


Save The Last Dance For Me

by Jude_Rigby



Series: Beware Of Darkness [11]
Category: Castle (TV 2009)
Genre: Crime, Drama, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:06:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 263,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28961427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jude_Rigby/pseuds/Jude_Rigby
Summary: When the crime scene of their next investigation is a macabre scene of posed and discarded bodies, Castle and Beckett find their lives in danger as they struggle to solve the case before the killer finds them. At the same time they attempt to begin their future together, if they manage to survive to experience it. Eleventh in the Beware of Darkness series.
Relationships: Kate Beckett & Richard Castle, Kate Beckett/Richard Castle
Series: Beware Of Darkness [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006014
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue- Photograph

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this story is the title of a song by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, the version I'm taking from Michael Bublé, from his album It's Time. And I just want to note to my readers, the title of the story doesn't mean this is the last one in the series, not in the slightest, lol. The title of this chapter is the title of a song written by Ringo Starr and George Harrison, from Ringo's eponymous album.

The rasping sound was quiet, but he didn't care, it was visible immediately to him as the image soon disappeared under numerous lines. He held the photograph up to the light, seeing he'd scratched so hard that time that it was shining through the paper in a few places. There was a slight smile as he had the sudden wish he could do the same to the subject, but he knew there was time, there had been a lot of waiting, but things were nearly in place and he could begin.

He wondered what would happen when they knew, what would they say, what would they do? He was optimistic, but so many years of watching had led him to believe that it would be tough to get through. But he was patient; he'd always been patient. Since they'd first met he'd been waiting, he'd had to learn to be. He went to the wall in front of him as it was clean then and pinned it up with the other photographs that were there. He then went back and picked up the next one in the stack he was working through. There he picked up a sharp scalpel, slicing the unnecessary subject out of the photo that time. There was a method, there needed to be, to show how he was only going to want them to himself.

There was the sound of more scratching, and he suddenly snapped, digging the scalpel into the photo, gouging out the subject's face, the smile that made him feel like strangling that subject with his bare hands. He ripped up the picture as there was a gaping hole when he realized what he'd done, and he quickly tossed it into the trash, already a small pile there with other results of his intense frustration.

"All you had to do was look," he muttered, taking the next picture. "Look and see where I am, always with you. You never looked." He sighed and didn't touch that photo; it was perfect. He went to the wall next to the other, pinning it with other pictures that were unmarred and he tilted his head as he could see from the top of the wall to the bottom the difference in the years of his photography. Things had changed, but as time had gone on, there were less and less in the way of those perfect photographs, and his lip curled up in a sneer. "You were supposed to be all alone, and all mine," he told the subject, almost spitting the words out. "All you had to do was look…"

Turning back to the desk in the small room, he sat down again, looking at the next picture. It was outside, at an amusement park. Coney Island, he reminded himself. He had been watching, pretending not to want what he couldn't have in that moment on that perfect summer day. He quickly reminded himself that there would be a time when he wouldn't have to act, wouldn't have to hide, to pretend that every second with them wasn't an agonizing march of time. He breathed out then as he scratched then cut and pinned up that picture. Sitting down he scratched, then pinned. Scratched, gouged and had to throw away.

Cutting that picture he murmured lovingly to the subject remaining there, telling them to wait, not to go through with what they had planned, what he'd discovered. He would stop things before they got so far he told himself, before the object of his desire made the biggest mistake of their life. He would help them and they would be together, as they should have been in the first place.

He pinned up the picture that was complete, and studied his other wall, the one with the marred photographs and he smiled before saying, "You don't know do you? I take pictures and keep taking them to have you with me. But you'll understand why I do this for you; you'll see that I want you like no other man has ever wanted you before. You'll have something with me you never could get with them, all of them; especially this one," snarling on the last two words, as there were pictures up at to the ceiling down to almost his waist. All of them scratched out until around a quarter of the way through, then they became a mix of scratches and cuts.

Walking back to the desk, he saw his next picture was a perfect one, taken the month before, surreptitiously with his phone as he'd been there. He ran his fingertip across her cheek in the photo as he took it over to his wall filled with other pictures of her whispering, "I promise you Katherine, soon."


	2. Based On A Novel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Paperback Writer by The Beatles, from their album Past Masters, Volume Two.

Hearing the sound of footsteps outside, Castle grabbed the doorknob, waiting quietly until they came closer. When he was sure they had come to the door he threw it open and said, "Got- oh, crap, sorry!" He turned the laser tag gun away from his fiancée and their daughter telling her, "Sorry, I thought you were Alexis."

"With more than one set of footsteps?" Beckett asked in amusement as he took off the headpiece.

"I thought she might be trying to use my mother as a shield," Castle said. "She's done that before." He stepped aside, and as soon as he had the door closed, he was kissing his fiancée, trying not to let himself get too carried away before he forced himself away from her. "So, maybe you two can help me," he said, picking up Julia with one arm to share a kiss with her.

"Where's Alexis?" the little girl asked once she was set down.

"Some hiding spot she's got," Castle said as they walked to the kitchen. "I don't know where it is though, she's that good."

Beckett was about to speak when their daughter suddenly ran to the stairs and she looked at him before they heard Alexis.

"I'm somewhere where you'll never fin… okay Jules can find me, but not you two," the young woman said, her voice muffled before her sister's muffled squeal was heard.

Laughing, Beckett made her fiancé turn around and said, "Where's the switch?"

"Oh come on love, really? I'm so far up in points I want to make the gap a lot wider," Castle groaned. When she pinched his neck he groaned again and said, "Over here in the front." When she'd come around to look for it he led her hand to it and then said, "How was it last night?"

"Alright, Lanie was tired, so we didn't really do much besides play some games with Julia before she went to bed and then talked," Beckett replied. "Alexis," she then called to the stairs. "Your dad's vest is off, so you can come down now."

With Julia holding her hand, Castle's daughter came down the stairs and said, "So where are we going today?"

"I was thinking about going to the Natural History Museum," Castle suggested as he watched his fiancée sit at the island. "Since we were watching that show that talked about the azurite, the singing azurite."

"Let's go," Julia said excitedly when he mentioned that. "I wanna see the jewelry again too."

"Of course," Beckett said, smiling as she cupped Julia's face. When she sat back up she paused a moment and then quickly said, glancing at her fiancé, "That actually sounds nice, we haven't been there for a while, we've been sticking with most of the other museums." She then frowned and looked at Alexis saying, "What about-"

"Padma moved the lesson to tomorrow, she's going shopping with her brother today. He just got back from his trip to India," Alexis interrupted her.

"Then what do you think about going there?" Castle asked.

"Sounds fine to me," Alexis replied. "And you're right, we haven't been there lately, I'd love to check out the gemstones with her again. Just let me go up and change and get this game off."

When they were alone as Julia had gone with Alexis, Beckett turned to Castle and asked, "Anything?" keeping her voice low.

"No, you?" he asked her.

Shaking her head, Beckett sighed as she got off the chair to help her fiancé take off his vest saying, "She's been in office for over a week now, but she has to have a lot of stuff to do before she considers you."

"I know, but I get the feeling Gates is either pushing her or will very soon ask to get me kicked out," Castle said, keeping his voice low. He sighed as he took the vest from his fiancée, and went to his office to put it away, and as he folded it, he couldn't help recall the night of the eighth of that month, coming home after the results of the election.

* * *

_"How is he?" Beckett asked as soon as Castle walked into his loft._

_Looking at his fiancée, Castle shook his head and said, "Not good, he looked like he was struggling with that concession speech. He left right after, so I didn't talk to him at all tonight. But I'm not sure what I could have told him really, that he needed to win so I wouldn't lose my position as your partner?"_

_"So when does Mayor Wilkins take office?" Beckett asked, knowing he was right._

_"Next week, I asked Wheldon why exactly he felt the need to leave office, and he assured me it had nothing to do with Bracken," Castle said; since she'd told him to ask the now former mayor. "His wife recovered from a recent illness, and it scared him apparently; he wouldn't give me any details. He wants to spend time with her now. I pushed him on it, but remember I know his poker face, and he wasn't lying."_

_"So I guess we wait," Beckett said, sitting down on the couch as Castle followed her, taking off his tie._

_"Yeah, but Kate, maybe Gates won't try to get me out," he told her, taking her hand._

_"She will, I know you're trying to be positive, but I know she'll go to the new mayor as soon as possible," Beckett replied. "Let's just hope Mayor Wilkins will be understanding…"_

_Castle squeezed her hand, knowing why she had trailed off, as neither of them had believed the woman would want him as part of the NYPD. He sighed as he knew she was right and said, "All we can do is wait," before wrapping his arm around her tightly and kissing her temple._

* * *

"Are you ready to go?" Beckett asked as she stood in the doorway of his office. She smiled at him and said, "If you need to change, you should do it now, now that Julia's gotten the idea in her head she'll want to leave as soon as possible."

"Good point, but I'm ready," Castle told her, trying to put the apprehension he'd felt each day; expecting a phone call to end their partnership. "And it looks like you two are too," he commented as he looked over and saw Alexis and Julia coming down the stairs. "Okay, we're all set?" he asked Julia. When she nodded he said, "Then let's go!"

Stepping out of the apartment, Beckett waited for Castle to lock the door behind him before she heard Alexis say, "Gram?"

"Hello everyone, I see we're leaving on our trip today," Martha said, coming down the hall. "Is there room for one more?"

"There is," Castle said, smiling as Julia was hugging his mother tightly around the waist in her exuberance. "We're heading to the Natural History Museum, you're sure you want to come?"

"I do, and I will join you as soon as I drop off this purse," Martha said in a rush as she walked speedily past Castle and Beckett back into the loft.

"Think we'll catch a case today?" Castle asked his fiancée as they watched their daughters looking out the windows at the end of the hall while they waited.

"I'm not psychic, we'll see of course. Let's just hope if we do we won't get called in until we've been at the museum for at least a little," Beckett commented before Martha was coming out.

"Okay, I'm ready to go and-" she began to say before Beckett's phone began to ring.

"I'm sorry," she said as Julia turned to them. "Sweetie, we have to go to work," she told her apologetically after reading the text immediately feeling terrible looking at her daughter.

"Kay," Julia said, hurt but knowing her mother and Castle would have gone with them if they could. "Will you come back tonight?"

"We will," Castle answered for his fiancée. "But you three enjoy the museum," he told them, giving Alexis some cash. "Get something really nice at the gift shop, something for your new rooms; whenever we get an apartment."

"Thanks Dad, we will. And I have to get a hat for her, I want to take her to the park after," his daughter replied. "We'll watch her though, and make sure she takes a lot of pictures for you at the museum."  
"We'll look at them tonight if it's not too late," Beckett said, picking the little girl up and kissing her cheek. "I love you sweetie, okay? And believe me when I say I wish we could go with you," she told her seriously before they shared a kiss.

"I know Mommy," Julia said with a little smile. "And I love you. I know you want to stay too Castle," she told him as her mother transferred her to his arms.

"We'll go again, maybe next week, we'll see," Castle said, looking at Beckett who nodded. When she had, he kissed their daughter's forehead before they shared a kiss. "Love you sweetheart, we'll see you later," he told her. After he and Beckett had said hasty goodbyes to his mother and Alexis, he took her hand and they walked to the elevators, getting in one before the others could catch up with them. As they rode down he said, "I thought it'd be Gates."

"I'm still not sure who exactly she'd call," Beckett said. "I say you more likely, and then me, since she knows I've fought before to keep you from leaving."

Castle grimaced at that and said, "We're not doing the best job of trying to forget this are we?"

"No, but since it's such a threat, I don't see how we could," Beckett said. "But for now, we have a case to distract us," she told him, hinting at him to try and put it behind them for the moment as they walked across the lobby together as fast as they could.

* * *

"Lanie? What do we have?" Beckett asked, walking into the apartment after Castle had joined her outside the elevator in the building.

"It's bad," the doctor said, looking a little grim.

"What… the hell," Beckett said, seeing the vic was a woman who looked a little like her.

"Is that a real head?" Castle asked, his eyes wide suddenly.

"It is, there's a headless body in the bathroom, blood all over the place," Esposito said, walking out from the bedroom. "But our vic here, her name's Posy Benson; she was formerly an aide to our new mayor during Wilkins' campaign."

"The new mayor?" Beckett asked, looking up at Castle as she was studying the head on what looked like an old fashioned platter.

"Yeah, she's currently unemployed, according to her neighbor I talked to," Esposito continued. "She's friends with our vic, and she came in as she hadn't heard from her since they had coffee Saturday morning before the friend went out of the city, she got worried when she didn't return her calls."

"Okay, and the guy?" Beckett asked, nodding to the head.

"She doesn't know who he is," Esposito said. "She was pretty shaken up though."

"I can imagine, imagine coming in and seeing your friend like this," Castle commented.

"Are you okay bro?" Esposito asked, looking over to him.

"Yeah, just, a little disturbing," Castle replied, shaking his head.

Beckett watched her fiancé leave the apartment then, about to go after him because she knew there was something more than the scene being disturbing. But she remembered her job, and she forced herself to ask Esposito, "What about her dress?"

"Her friend said the vic does not dress up, not in clothes that old," he replied.

Nodding, Beckett studied the red-orange dress with a green inset in the bodice with slashed and puffed sleeves and said, "This is pretty familiar."

"Really?" Lanie asked, looking up at her friend in surprise.

"It's the colors of the dress," Beckett said. "I may have seen it in a painting Julia and I were looking at. Okay, let me see the other vic."

"I don't know if you're going to want to girlfriend," Lanie said, glancing at the doorway as Castle walked in with Ryan.

"Were you doing the canvas?" Beckett asked him.

"Yeah, and no one could really say they heard anything during the time of death, between ten and two Saturday night," Ryan said, nodding to Lanie. "Which is bizarre because the killer had to bring the guy and everything he used to set this up."

"You know that plate might lead you to the killer," Castle commented, staying back, away from the tableau.

Glancing at him, Beckett nodded and said to Ryan, "Can you look into that?" When he wrote something on his notepad she went with Esposito to the bathroom, seeing the body, without its head. She breathed out and looking down at the man's feet asked Lanie's assistant, there to help her out with both bodies, "Is his time of death the same?"

"Around the same time Detective," the woman said. "I can't really tell if there are any signs of a struggle, the blood," she pointed out.

"I get the feeling there wasn't," Castle said, coming to the doorway suddenly, trying not to look at the body in the tub but unable to keep his eyes from drifting down to it. He snapped his gaze back up and looking at Beckett said, "I forgot to tell you the dress is probably traceable too."

"Are you okay?" Beckett asked as she stepped into the bedroom where they had some semblance of privacy.

"Yeah, just, hard to see these two scenes," Castle said. "But I almost forgot to tell you, about the no struggle comment, I heard CSU say there were three washed wine glasses in the empty dishwasher."

"Okay, so likely they were drugged," Beckett said. "Which would explain why the woman doesn't look like she's experienced any trauma. Lanie," she said, going to the living room. "Any signs of a struggle on her?"

"Not able to tell, her sleeves are way too tight on the wrist, I'll have to cut her out of the dress," the doctor replied, walking to them. "Let me take another look at your second vic."

"Espo," Beckett said as he was talking to the workers that had managed to get their vic into the body bag, having to push in the heavy skirts of the Renaissance style dress into it with her to be able to close it. "I want you to try and get a picture of the head-" she said, glancing at it on the platter on another stretcher that was waiting for the rest of the body.

"Already done," Esposito said quickly.

"Thank you, then I need you to go around while CSU goes through the rest of the place to ask anyone if they know who he is," Beckett told him. "Castle and I will go to the station and start looking into the vic we know, see what we can get from her life and her family if she has any."

"I'll call you when I'm done with both bodies Beckett," Lanie said as she came to them. "I'm getting the feeling I'll have something to tell you."

"So do I," Beckett replied before Castle suddenly left them again.

"What's wrong with him?" Lanie asked. "The new mayor hasn't talked to Gates has she?"

"No, but there's something else wrong," Beckett said. "He's never been like this during initial visits to the crime scene. But I need to go; I don't have time to talk to him."

"Yeah, I told you this one's pretty bad," Lanie said. "Let's hope it's a onetime thing."

Nodding, Beckett left and nearly ran into Castle as he was waiting for her close to the door. When he shook his head no firmly at her she nodded, understanding that he didn't want to talk about it just yet. But she hoped, as the elevator doors closed in front of them, that the look in his eyes was more a reaction to the tableau of their two vics than something else far worse than that.

* * *

"I, I don't know what to say Detective," the young man said, visibly pale as he stared down at the picture of the dress is sister had been wearing. "I can't imagine why Posy would be dressed up; she wasn't really into fashion, at least nothing that old."

"Okay, then why don't you tell me what your sister was going to do now, Paul," Beckett said gently. "We understand from her neighbor Freda Mercado that she had worked as an aide to the new mayor of the city. But that was just during the election."

"Yeah, she wanted to try and get a job at the courthouse," Paul Benson said, rubbing his forehead. "With me, we're twins you know, she's older."

"We're aware," Beckett said, glancing at Castle.

"What do you do exactly Mr. Benson?" he asked then, speaking for the first time since his fiancée had contacted the only relative that their first vic had.

"I'm a lawyer, a prosecutor," Benson replied. "My sister wanted to be a clerk while she went back to law school. Our father was injured when he went to Iraq during Desert Storm and those injuries became worse before she could finish school; she took care of him before he passed and insisted I finish school to become a lawyer."

"Do you know this man at all?" Beckett asked carefully as the man looked shaken up, handing him a picture of the head.

"A head?" Benson asked in disgust. "That's not… real is it?"

"I'm afraid… it is," Beckett said, trailing off as the man clapped his hand over his mouth and ran out. She stood with Castle to see Benson making it to where the restrooms were. "I should have known that would have been too much."

"I'm surprised you and I aren't having the same reaction," Castle commented, watching her as they sat back down.

"Believe me, I'm doing it internally," Beckett said, tucking the picture under the one of the first vic. "And apparently going pale if you're looking at me like that."

Nodding Castle was about to say more when Benson came back, his face damp after he'd obviously splashed water on it. "Sorry about having to show you that," he said.

"No, I guess you don't know who that is?" Benson asked. When they both shook their heads he said, "That's my sister's ex boyfriend, Robert Cane."

"Was she dating anyone now?" Beckett asked quickly.

"I don't think so, if she did, she never mentioned it," Benson replied. "And she never told me anything about a friend wanting to hurt her, or being afraid of anyone."

Not surprised he'd anticipated the question; since he was a prosecutor; Beckett then asked, "No one who worked in either Mayor Wilkins or her opponent Mr. Price's campaign scared your sister?"

"You think this could be political? I'm not sure about that Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle," Benson said doubtfully. "The way my sister was dressed…"

"Okay, then my last question-" Beckett started to say.

"She was fine," Benson said, anticipating that question already. "I should have said, but, forgot. But no, she was okay, she was doing alright, we were trying to get her a job and…"

"When was the last time you talked to her?" Castle asked.

"About five on Friday, I went out to Montauk to our summer home with my girlfriend, we were gone until about ten last night," Benson said. "I don't use my phone up there so…" He groaned and burying his face in his hands said, "I wish I would have, she would still be alive."

* * *

The mocha colored liquid was motionless in its ceramic mug, reflecting him in the light as he stared into it, trying to discern the answers. He was stationary too, trying to figure out how everything had changed so dramatically since that morning when he'd woken up, thinking that he was going to enjoy the day with his daughters and his fiancée.

"Castle?" Beckett said, walking up to him then.

Turning his head, Castle saw his fiancée's expression and that seemed to snap him out of his torpor and he said, "I made some coffee for you," handing it to her.

"Thanks," Beckett said, taking it but not breaking her gaze on him.

He was a little surprised when she started to take a sip, but then hurriedly walked around him to the sink and Castle asked, "Is it cold?"

"Almost," Beckett said. "It was a sweet gesture though. Rick, what's going on?"

It was then he knew he couldn't really hold back on what he'd been struggling to figure out since he'd seen the crime scene, and Castle took a deep breath and was about to talk when he noticed Ryan and Esposito coming out of the elevator. "I need to talk to you at home tonight okay?" he asked her earnestly so she knew he wasn't trying to blow her off. "We need to talk there because that's the best place for me to explain what's going on."

Though his words had done little to encourage her, Beckett heard Esposito call her, and she then understood partially why he'd asked for more time. "You guys find anything?" she asked, walking out of the room with Castle.

"A sweep of the building got us the name of our other vic-" Ryan started to say.

"Yeah, I forgot to let you know we found out who he is, Robert Cane," Beckett interrupted him.

"And the first vic's ex," Castle added. "But they broke up amicably."

"Yeah, that's what I heard too from his neighbor two floors down in the same building," Ryan said. "Which you know already. Okay, so asking him about anyone lately in the vic's life, he mentioned that there was a woman that was coming around every so often."

"I'm assuming he's going to be able to describe this woman?" Beckett asked simply, since there had been someone with them that had gone to the conference room with the sketch artist.

"He will, and I'll take that sketch to the friend of our first vic, see if she was around there too," Ryan said. "But what he said about this woman was that he always felt really creeped out by her, not sure why, but he said she just gave off a weird feeling and he thought Cane might be dating her, but he never got an explanation for why exactly she was there."

"Did CSU find anything?" Beckett asked after he and Esposito had looked to Castle for a theory. She wasn't surprised when her fiancé didn't say anything, and she ignored their partners' looks to her then saying, "Espo?"

"There weren't any fingerprints that were unexplained," Esposito said. "They all belonged to our vics."

"Then they wore gloves," Castle commented.

"Besides that, there's nothing that doesn't belong to Cane and Benson, hair, fibers, all of that," Esposito said, gesturing them into the bull pen and to the murder board which Castle and Beckett had been filling in already. "But there was one thing they found, in the kitchen, tucked behind a sugar bowl."

Watching as he put a magnet clip on it, Castle forced himself to keep staring at the picture of a postcard. "It's the crime scene," he said, his voice lower than he'd intended it to be.

"It is, what was on the back of this?" Beckett asked quickly, forgetting her concern for her fiancé with the painting of a woman receiving a severed head on a platter. "Please tell me it's an ID of the painting."

"It's a postcard from the Met," Esposito explained. "It's called _Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist_ by Andrea Solario, from the late 1400's to early 1500's."

"A hate crime?" Ryan suggested.

"No," Beckett said, shaking her head. "They didn't belong to any religions, according to their family members I spoke to. But now I know why I recognized this, I've raced past it with Julia so she wouldn't see the blood dripping under the head. This is really close to how our killer left our vics," she mused.

"What're you thinking?" Castle asked his fiancé.

"I think we've got a copy cat killer," Beckett replied.

"The four seasons murders," Castle said, not surprised when his fiancée nodded to his answer. He took a deep breath and said, "I wonder though, why he left the postcard as hidden as he did. And you know this is a man right?"

"It could be a woman," Esposito said. "I had some fellow soldiers who would be able to do that with the right weapon; men and women."

"No, he's right, this is a man, to be able to drag the bodies around, dress them," Beckett said. She looked at her fiancé then and said, "What're you thinking?"

"I'm trying to figure out a motive in this," Castle said. "And I can't really get one to fit what I see here," he said, tapping the photograph of the crime scene with the back of his finger.

"Alright Espo, can you try and find the dress she was put in," Beckett said. "It had to be custom made, check for tailors or any costume makers in the city that might be able to create costumes from the Renaissance."

"You might want to look at any play in the city that's taking place around this time; Shakespeare for example," Castle said as the two were walking away. "The killer might be connected or just ordered the dress at the same time to hope it'd be buried in the other costume orders."

Beckett nodded to Esposito when he looked to her at that and she turned to him saying, "I'd like to talk to someone at the Met, to see if there's anything special about this painting that would warrant this kind of violence."

"Like something happening in the building in the past, some kind of incident?" Castle asked.

Nodding Beckett went to her desk and picked up the phone, calling the museum's number which she remembered from the four seasons case. "Yes, my name is Detective Beckett with the NYPD Mr. Hallowell, you remember me, right I'm afraid my partner and I are going to need to speak with you at the gallery where the painting _Salome with the Head of John_ \- gallery 608? Great, thank you for letting me know, no, we know the way," she said before hanging up. "Okay, he'll meet us there, and since his grandfather and father were curators of the European Paintings section, he would know if anything happened in the building, specifically that area." She then called over to Ryan and Esposito, "Guys, we're heading to the Met to talk with Mr. Hallowell again."

"And to look at the gift shop," Castle said quickly.

"That too," Beckett said, looking at him. "Call if you find anything while we're gone," she told them as they went to the elevator.

"Think we have a chance to see them?" Castle asked her once they were alone inside the car.

"By now they have to be in the park," Beckett said, knowing who he was talking about. She checked her clock on her phone and said, "I'll text them to come over to the museum so they can be near when we finish."

* * *

"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle," Hallowell said as he shook their hands. "Here is the painting," he said, watching as they turned to it. "I'm unsure what's wrong, but I think I have a pretty good idea."

"Yes, we found a victim dressed the same as the Salome in the painting," Beckett told him, only telling him that because she needed to make sure no one from the Met was involved. "And we need to ask you a few questions."

"Alright, do you suspect me or my people again?" Hallowell asked, looking a little angry.

"I'm sorry, but it's a necessity, since we found this at the crime scene," Beckett said, showing him a copy of the picture of the postcard.

"Yes, we sell those in the gift shop," Hallowell replied, frowning. "But anyone could buy them."

"Which means anyone working for the museum could as well," Castle said.

"Do you know this woman?" Beckett asked, showing him the DMV picture of their first vic.

"No," Hallowell said, looking up at Beckett. "She does look a little like you though."

Castle glanced at his fiancée, knowing she was trying to ignore that, which was why none of them had mentioned it before then. He then cleared his throat and said, "Does the name Posy Benson ring a bell?"

"I'm afraid not," Hallowell said. "But if she's a member of the museum you're free to search again."

"We have already," Beckett said, since she and Castle had thought of that on the drive over and she'd had Ryan search. "She isn't."

"Oh, well, I really don't know her," Hallowell said.

"Then can you tell me your whereabouts between ten and two Saturday?" Beckett asked.

"Not a problem, we had a party here to celebrate our newest acquisitions," Hallowell said, sounding relieved. "It wasn't over until two, it was held down in the Great Hall, and since the museum was closed everywhere else, I assure you I only left to use the restroom."

"We'll check on that," Beckett said, not really suspecting the man, just needing to go through the motions. "Then can I ask about the history of this section of the museum, as in has any kind of crime or incident occurred here."

"Nothing more than patrons trying to touch the frames or paintings," Hallowell said after thinking for a moment. "There hasn't been much in the way of violence here at the Met."

"Alright, I'm wondering though, are there any other paintings that show this kind of bloodshed?" Beckett then asked.

"Not the crucifixion," Castle quickly said. "But something that could be viewed as violent and not necessarily religious."

Frowning at that, Hallowell said, "Of what we have on display right now, this is probably the most violent piece, barring paintings of the crucifixion. But there is one piece you might want to see."

Following the man through the galleries, Castle and Beckett exchanged a look as they were walking through the European paintings to a gallery of photographs before they reached the 19th and 20th century European paintings. He stopped in front of a small picture and turned to them.

"I don't know if this applies to what you're asking, but I think this would be likely something someone would use," Hallowell said.

"I'm wondering, have you fired anyone in the past six months or so that took it badly?" Castle suddenly asked.

"Oh, no actually, our employment's been steady, no firings or people resigning, or hires," Hallowell said, a little surprised at the question but thinking for a moment before answering.

"Thank you Mr. Hallowell," Beckett said, nodding to him to let him know he could go. When they were alone she said, " _The Flagellation of Christ_?"

"Yeah," Castle said, frowning. "It's not the only one of this subject in the museum though."

"Palliére," Beckett said, reading the name of the artist. "I can see why he'd thought this one would be used though."

"It won't be," Castle said, shaking his head.

"How can you say that so confidently?" Beckett asked, looking at him.

"We should look at the gift shop," he told her, shaking his head again.

Though they were relatively alone there in the gallery, Beckett guessed then that very likely there was something at his home that he also needed when he spoke to her. She was getting a little frustrated with her fiancé, but didn't say anything as they walked to the gift shop together.

"Here," Castle said, leading the way inside and to the display of postcards.

Looking over the selection, Beckett wasn't surprised to see the one of their crime scene and she glanced over the others, not seeing the one that Hallowell had pointed out to them. "Okay," she said, glancing at him and seeing he was looking away from the postcards. "I'd better find the manager."

As his fiancée went to seek the man out, Castle stood at the doorway, feeling very tense as he waited for her. He nearly jumped when his phone shook in his pocket, making him rush a little to dig it out and earning him some glances from the people going by. He ignored them though, and saw it was Alexis, able to smile as he looked at the picture that accompanied it.

"Hey, so I talked to him, and he'll get us the list of purchases of that particular postcard," Beckett said, walking around him to make sure she could get his attention. "And while most people buy those in cash, they'll have a date from each scan of the bar code, so we can get security footage for about the last eight months."

"So we should be able to see him," Castle said.

"If he's not wearing a disguise," Beckett said simply.

"Right," Castle said with a nod. "For now though, we can meet them, they're right across the street," he said as he showed her the selfie that Alexis had taken with Julia; the museum in the background.

Relieved to see the smile on her fiancé's face, Beckett squeezed his arm and said, "Then we should go, I'm sure at some point Gates is going to notice we're gone and that's all we need; for her to discover we're with Julia in the park."

"I don't get the feeling she'd begrudge you that," Castle commented as they were leaving. "Me on the other hand…"

Beckett shook her head, and when they'd left the museum, she went down the stairs quickly, glancing at Castle before she nearly missed the next step. She murmured her thanks in his grabbing her to stop her, feeling her embarrassment in that, but kept going until they were across the street.

"Mommy! Castle!" Julia cried out in surprise when she saw them walking up to where she was kicking a soccer ball to Alexis. "I thought you were working?" she said as she ran to her mother, hugging her tightly around the waist.

"We were at the Met and decided to come see you," Beckett said, smiling as she kissed her cheek.

"But we can't stay for too, too long," Castle commented. "We're still working."

"Thank you for coming to see us," Julia said shyly, hugging him tightly as she was given to him. "Oh! Mommy, Mommy! Castle!"

"What?" he asked with a laugh, Beckett, Martha and Alexis joining in with him.

"Alexis got a message from Paul and it said he was all better," Julia said eagerly.

"He'll still do the concert here at Shea," Alexis said, nodding when her dad and Beckett looked at her. "So she's pretty excited."

"A lot excited," Julia giggled happily.

"I think we can tell," Castle said, kissing her temple and feeling like the little girl was a balm to his stressed mien. "So how was it at the museum?"

"Fun," Julia said. "And we got stuff but we won't show 'till we get home 'cause it's wrapped in paper."

"Sounds like a present," Beckett said.

"They used their remaining money to buy you two something for your room," Martha commented. "And they also had enough to buy the soccer ball."

"Do you want to learn to play soccer sweetie?" Beckett asked, leaning over and kissing her daughter's cheek.

"No, I just like to play like this," Julia said, smiling. "It's fun and you don't have to fight."

"She makes a point," Castle said.

"I think we need to head back," Beckett said, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket.

"Oh, Mommy…" Julia started to say before she stopped.

"We'll do something this weekend," Castle said. "Maybe we'll head out to the beach at Coney Island and swim."

"We can't go to your house?" Julia asked.

"It's a little too far sweetie," Beckett said, taking her back from her fiancé. "But Coney Island wouldn't be too bad."

"And we could maybe go on rides," Castle pointed out to her.

"Maybe," Beckett said, smiling when Julia immediately perked up at that. She shared another kiss with her saying, "We'll see you tonight, we'll try to get back to have dinner with you."

"We're making something," Alexis said as Julia kissed Castle goodbye next. "I'm not sure what, but we'll make it and have it ready for whenever you come back."

"Thanks," Castle said. "We'll be looking forward to it. Have fun sweetheart."

"Bye," Julia called with Alexis and Martha, waving as the two left. She frowned and said, "Is Castle kay?"

"He will be, he's just a little stressed right now, because of his writing," Alexis said, though she knew that wasn't the case. She glanced at the street, but her dad and Beckett were long gone, so she quickly turned to Julia, getting her to kick the soccer ball with her again, to try and distract both her sister and herself.

* * *

"Okay, so talking to the antiques dealer," Ryan said as he went over to Castle and Beckett at her desk. "He said he'd have to look at the plate itself, but since it's plain, it's more than likely modern, made to look old. I called a second dealer, and he said the same thing."

"I thought that might be the case," Beckett said.

"I was hoping it'd be older," Castle said, nodding in agreement with her. "And Esposito?" he asked, glancing to the detective's desk.

"He went to speak to someone who may have made that dress," Ryan said.

"Okay, the Met's gift shop is sending us security footage and also a list of when someone bought a postcard in the last eight months," Beckett said. "Do you have that sketch?"

"Yeah, the friend finished it," Ryan said, tapping the murder board. "Esposito's taking it to the first vic's friend to show them it."

"Alright, then look out for her, she might not be the killer, but could be an accomplice," Beckett told him before going to her computer. She saw the museum had sent the list, and she quickly printed it out before her phone shook.

"Lanie?" Castle asked her as she was reading a text.

"It is," Beckett said. "I think you should focus on the last three months for the killer," she said, startled when Castle breathed out in relief next to her. She glanced at her fiancé and then turned back to Ryan saying, "I'm giving you this without that much to go on, but try and see what you can find."

"If I don't find anything those three months, I'll go back further," Ryan said with a nod.

Beckett nodded her thanks before she and Castle left, driving out to the morgue where they met Lanie in the hall. "What is it?" she asked.

"They were both poisoned," the doctor said as soon as she had finished. "Arsenic."

"Arsenic?" Castle asked, looking stunned.

"Yeah, why?" Lanie said, looking at him.

"Nothing," Castle said. "How big was the dose?"

"Large," Lanie said. "Enough so that I have to wonder how much mead they had to have drunk to mask the taste of it."

"Mead?" Beckett asked, wondering then why Lanie was standing in front of the door to the room and not going inside.

"It's a very old drink," Castle commented. "And that makes me think they were having a little party, which means-"

"Our first vic was already in her dress," Beckett said, not surprised when Castle nodded once in agreement. "Okay, so, any signs of a struggle?" she asked before looking at her fiancé. When she saw his responding gaze she realized he'd noticed what Lanie was doing too.

"No, that dose of arsenic, the killer would just wait it out until they were dead," the doctor said. She then continued with, "I don't know if you want to see the bodies though."

"We've seen them already," Castle commented, sharing a glance with his fiancée.

"And I'm aware the first vic looks like me, but that's probably just a coincidence," Beckett said as Lanie frowned and then led them into the room.

"Then you'll want to see this," the doctor said, handing them a photograph, face down.

When Beckett had turned it over, she flinched and looked away from it, turning her gaze to her fiancée who had seemed to have gone a little pale. "He, he didn't look like that before," she said, glancing at their second vic, who didn't have the curly hair or beard that had been on his head at the crime scene.

"Those were fake," Lanie said simply.

"Are his features from some kind of cosmetic surgery?" Castle asked, hoping that was the case.

"No, I'm sorry," Lanie said meaningfully, glancing at the picture of the vic, who looked similar to Castle.

"This doesn't make sense though," Beckett said. "Unless the killer is obsessed with us because they read that _Cosmo_ article, and they were aware of the four seasons murders."

"But why kill two people who look like…" Castle started to say before trailing off.

"The election," he and Beckett said at the same time. "They're thinking that with the new mayor you'll be kicked off the NYPD, and this is a threatening gesture to the mayor-" she started to say.

"To make sure she does," Castle finished. "But the painting," he said. "I know you said the four seasons murders but… I don't think it's that."

"Then, okay, we'll have to think about that some more," Beckett said, seeing in his eyes he was begging her not to continue her question. She turned to Lanie and said, "Anything else."

"No, I am sorry, but you needed to know about this," Lanie said. "And your first vic, she's wearing a blonde wig, underneath she's a brunette, just like you Kate."

* * *

Walking down the hall of Castle's building two hours later, Beckett could feel the exhaustion in her eyes. She was a little frustrated with herself since she and her fiancé hadn't had to work that long that day. But the case had been stressful enough in the little time they'd been at the Precinct, and she leaned against the door of his place for a moment before gathering herself and opening the door, a little startled to see that there was no one there. "Castle?" she asked, hoping he hadn't left as she needed to talk to him; badly.

"Right here," he said, coming out of his room. "Sorry, I needed to do something before you got back."

"Do you want to talk now?" Beckett asked as he took her hand after she'd set her bag in the closet and had taken off her jacket.

"Yeah," Castle said simply, taking her into the office and closing the door.

"Are they here?" Beckett asked.

"No, I think they're grabbing dinner, which is a relief, because it gives us a little privacy," Castle said. "Here, I need you to read this," he told her, having her sit in front of his laptop.

Looking at him, Beckett saw that he was serious, and she knew whatever it was she was reading had nothing to do with Nikki Heat. She read the first sentence, and her gaze shot back to her fiancé.

"Keep reading," Castle said, going around to sit across from her. He knew when she had stopped reading, because she turned her gaze to him, looking slightly aghast. "I know, but let me show you something," he said quickly, getting up and going back to look in a drawer. "I have… oh god," he said, trailing off as he opened it and found it was empty. "No, no," he muttered to himself, going through the other drawers before groaning in frustration.

Beckett followed him to his safe, watching him open it to reveal what she knew was always inside of it, making her ask, "What are you looking for?"

"I have them here, somewhere I swear," Castle said, going to his secret safe in the corner of his room behind the armchair.

When he pulled up the false floorboard, Beckett saw that some of the pictures of her and Julia with him and his family were in there, and that seemed to confirm her suspicion. "You had the postcard that we found at the crime scene," she said simply, jumping when he dropped the floorboard that clattered to the ground.

"Kate, I swear to you that I did not-" Castle started to say.

"Easy," Beckett said quickly, covering his mouth with her hand. "I know you're not the killer, because you have an alibi, me. And a pretty solid alibi since we were fairly busy those four hours," she said, biting her lower lip

"That's right, so there's no way I could have killed them," Castle said, in relief as he recalled then.

"No, but it looks like someone came in and stole your postcard," Beckett said. She was surprised when he suddenly bowed his head and asked, "What?"

"Postcard _s_ ," Castle said, emphasizing the plural. "I bought them back in January when I had the idea to write that plot for my next Heat book. But I was worried it was going to be too much like _Heat Wave_ , so I wrote that Prologue for my publisher, to see what he thought. But that was back in January," he reiterated.

"Okay," Beckett said, frowning. "Put the floorboard back, and let's talk about this." She waited until he had done so, and then took him back to his office where they sat down in the armchairs facing each other. "So how many postcards did you have?" she asked.

"Four," Castle said, not surprised when she closed her eyes at that.

"Do you remember what they look like?" Beckett asked.

"I haven't looked at them in months, probably not since I wrote that," Castle said, nodding to his laptop. "I… think one was by Degas, but the other two…"

"Were they as violent as the first?" Beckett said, taking his hands as she could tell he was tense.

"I… no, that one, of Salome was the only one. I wasn't going to pick it, but I wanted something to pop the first time," Castle said, shaking his head. "The other three were not violent, I was just going to have a woman prominent in each crime scene, so I picked cards corresponding to that, what I thought would work."

"And the last place you put them was in that drawer," Beckett said. "Did anyone else know about them, your publisher?"

"No, I didn't tell anyone, I didn't tell you because I was hesitant about the idea, especially after the four seasons case," Castle said. "But someone broke in…"

Sighing when he looked at her expectantly, Beckett said, "It could be someone trying to emulate Tyson."

"Okay, then they would have to have known about the case, or… seen that apartment he'd stayed at," Castle said. "We never got an accomplice while he was trying to frame me."

"And it could be someone that knew him, was in contact with him at the time," Beckett pointed out. "Or someone else could have figured out on their own how to break in here. But they're good; you haven't noticed any signs of a break in recently have you?"

"No, we could ask my mother and Alexis but, I don't want to worry them about this," Castle replied. He sighed and then stood up saying, "What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure," Beckett said honestly. "But, I think we're going to need to take this one step at a time. I don't think you should worry about getting arrested though, like I said before, you have your alibi."

"No, I don't," Castle contradicted. "Kate, what if you're taken off the force? You told me that would be a risk when we first started and we went back to work."

Sighing, Beckett said, "Between losing my job and you being sentenced to life for murder, I would choose the former Rick. You're going to be my husband and you're the father of our daughter; I can't let you go without a fight."

"A last resort," Castle said as she went over to him. "If it comes to that then we tell whoever needs to be told that I was with you that night, all night." He then smiled slightly and said, "And they'll be interested hearing it was in fact all night."

"You're a pervert," Beckett said, shaking her head though she was smiling slightly as well.

"You were the one who didn't seem to really want to stop," Castle pointed out, wrapping his arm around her as she leaned against his side. They both jumped together then as the clatter of thunder outside sounded, and they looked to the windows, seeing the rain begin to follow. "Something is wrong, with this case," he murmured against the side of her head. "Everything is wrong."

"I know," Beckett said, knowing what he meant. "But we have each other during this investigation, we'll get through this."

"They'll get to me soon though, you know I touched those postcards," Castle reminded her.

"I know," Beckett said, her voice a mere whisper. She wrapped both her arms around her fiancé saying, "What do we tell Julia if they have to put you into holding?"

"I don't know," Castle said. "I'll give her as much of my attention tonight as I can, if the mayor pushes for any fingerprints they find to be identified quickly, then they'll be taking me in tomorrow. Don't interrogate me."

"I wasn't planning on it," Beckett said with a slight nod. "Gates will likely do it."

Sighing as they watched the rain continuing to fall, Castle said, "That's why I put all my stuff in-"

"I saw, but Castle, what if they try to look at your phone?" Beckett asked, looking up at him.

"We might have some time, remember they just passed that law that says you need a separate warrant for a suspect's cell phone now every time," he reminded her. "But this might be it, and I'm not just talking about the case."

Nodding, Beckett wasn't sure how she could respond to that, only hugged him tighter before she said, "We should look at this as someone wanting to target us both."

"I think it could just be me they're targeting," Castle commented. "I want it to be just me."

"I can protect myself," Beckett reminded her fiancé.

"True, but it makes sense," Castle told her. "I was pretty vocal for Price on the campaign when I had the chance, and our first vic worked for the opposition… it's not a coincidence. Then the names, Cane and Benson?"

"Yeah, I noticed that, a coincidence though," Beckett sighed. "But you saw the care he took with her."

"And he took pretty good care of Cane," Castle replied. "He took it directly out of my manuscript, even the old drink and arsenic were there."

"I noticed, but that doesn't help us find out who it is. Though we can look at your publisher, see if his system's been hacked; or if he printed that manuscript if his office was broken into," Beckett said. "But for now, why don't we set this aside and spend time with our daughter?"

"Speaking of which," Castle said as they heard the front door opening. He shared a quick kiss with Beckett before they went out into the living room and he said, "Julia!"

"Oh sweetie, were you running through the rain?" Beckett asked, seeing their daughter was soaked.

"We tried to get her under the umbrella, but she was very adamant about staying in the rain," Martha said in remorse. "Kate, I'm-"

"It's okay," Beckett said as Castle picked the little girl up. "She's pretty stubborn, and I know you really must have tied to get her covered. For now, we'll give her a bath." She smiled when she felt Julia kiss her cheek, and she turned her head to share a kiss with her before following Castle upstairs. "We'll be quick, we know dinner's ready," she called to Alexis who was setting out covered containers of food.

"Sorry Mommy," Julia said, giggling as Castle set her down in Alexis' bathroom and took off her t-shirt quickly. "But the rain felt nice, it was hot before."

"I know, but if you get sick from being wet?" Beckett asked.

"You won't do that again right?" Castle asked, managing to get her leggings off her. "Man those were stuck on you like a glove," he commented.

Smiling, Julia hugged him around the neck as he picked her up to set her in the tub before saying, "I will be good, but can I put my hand out in the rain?"

"You can," Beckett said, letting Castle take over then and wash her hair. "But for now, tell us about what you did after we went to see you."

"When we eat," Julia said, shaking her head. "Are you still working?"

"We are, but we'll definitely be free this weekend to do something like I said earlier," Castle commented, rinsing her hair.

"How come you were at the park?" Julia asked after he'd rinsed out the conditioner in her hair a while later.

"We had to speak to someone at the Met," Beckett said.

"Did you look at the paintings?" Julia asked, sounding slightly jealous.

"There wasn't any time," Castle assured her. "We talked to someone who's in charge of some of them."

"That must be fun to do," Julia said. "Do they get new ones and hang them up?"

"I think they're in charge of what they put on display in their section," Beckett replied as she nodded to her fiancé to get their daughter out. "Sorry sweetie," she said quickly as it looked like Julia was about to protest. "We still have dinner."

"I picked special today, Alexis and I did," Julia corrected herself as she stood to let Castle get her into her towel to dry her off. She giggled when he hugged her though she was still wet, kissing her cheek. When he did that again she frowned and pulled away to look him in the eyes. "Are you kay?" she asked.

"I'm fine, just glad you got home okay even with that storm going on," Castle assured her, starting to try her to distract her. He felt Beckett's hand squeeze his shoulder, shaking his head as he was rubbing the towel over Julia's head and their daughter wouldn't see that exchange. "Okay, you're all set, I'll let your mom get you dressed, I'll clean up here," he said.

"Hurry downstairs and come and see dinner," Julia said eagerly.

"I will, I promise," Castle assured her.

"So, you can either wear a shirt and pants, or else your pajamas," Beckett said once they were out in the bedroom.

"Pajamas," Julia said, keeping the towel closed around her as her mother got her clothes. "Mommy?" she asked as Beckett stood up from picking up her pajama pants and dropped them again almost instantly.

"Sorry, getting a little clumsy," Beckett hurriedly replied before grabbing them and going to her daughter. "I don't think I had the best grip on these. Stand up so I can get you dressed."

Coming out of the bathroom after cleaning up from the bath, Castle leaned against the doorway for a moment, watching as Beckett was brushing out Julia's hair. "Sorry, can't watch you?" he asked as his fiancée turned to him.

Smiling and shaking her head, Beckett stood up and put away Julia's brush as the little girl left without a backwards glance to them. She shared a smile with her fiancé and they both said, "She's hungry," at the same time. Shaking her head, she took Castle's hand as they went down to see the table set, and the food already in place. "Chinese?" she asked, since everyone had chopsticks in some form at their place setting.

"Japanese," Alexis said as she helped Julia onto her chair. Once they were all sitting with their drinks she told her sister, "Tell them about the azurite."

"Oh, it wasn't singing, but it was sooo pretty, and glowing in the lights there were," Julia started eagerly. She then proceeded to tell her mother and Castle about all they'd seen, and the pictures she'd taken.

"And at the park?" Beckett asked after Castle got their daughter to eat some of her rice and teriyaki chicken. "Eat the vegetables too sweetie."

"I am," Julia said. "We just played soccer until it was later. Then we went to the restaurant to get dinner. Oh! I remembered my books when Alexis was getting my hat, and we took them back."

"I'm assuming you taking a while to come back means you were in the library looking for more," Castle commented.

"Yeah, I got new ones and they are over there," she said, pointing out the bag on the table next to the door.

"We'll take a look at them before we put you to bed," Beckett promised. "So sounds like you had a pretty nice day. But we are sorry we couldn't go with you."

"That's kay, you need to work too," Julia said. "Do you go tomorrow?"

"We need to," Castle confirmed, squeezing his fiancée's hand under the table.

"Do you want to go back to camp tomorrow?" Beckett asked.

"Can I?" Julia asked in slight surprise.

"Your two counselors are feeling better, so they'll be back tomorrow, it'll be arts and crafts," Beckett said.

"Oh good, and can I go to class after?" Julia asked eagerly as they were finishing up their food.

"Of course," Beckett replied, helping Alexis and Castle clear the table. "Put that by the sink sweetie," she said when she turned back and nearly ran into her daughter, carrying her food container.

After they'd gotten the table cleaned up, Julia insisted her sister help her practice her dance steps for the next day. "Sure you don't wanna dance with me Mommy?" she asked, leaning against Beckett as she waited for Alexis to come over to the couch.

"Very sure sweetie, I'm a little tired tonight, plus I think your sister is a lot better than I am," Beckett replied, kissing her forehead.

"You're not too bad either," Alexis said. "But you need to be in shape for this dance. And are you sure you want to dance with me? Looks like you're doing pretty well on your own Jules."

"Keep going," Castle said, coming over and making Julia stop. "Kick and flick sweetheart, you know how much they look at those when you're competing." He handed his fiancée a cup of coffee and then sat with her, Alexis and his mother sitting as well, watching as Julia did the simple dance for the Jive that Miss Amber had taught her since the dance class had resumed after the Fourth of July.

Finally breathless, Julia playfully slumped against her mother and said, "I love that dance, but it's very fast," her expression serious.

"I know, but you do love it darling," Martha pointed out. "Now what do you want to do? More dancing?"

"No, I wanna look at my books now," Julia said, hurrying to the bag.

"Wait, wait Julia," Castle said quickly, getting up to go and help her before she knocked the bag off the table. "Okay, come on and let's look," he said before he turned back with her hand in his. "You finished already?" he asked his fiancée as she was going to the kitchen.

"I did, I was actually pretty thirsty," Beckett said. She rinsed out her mug, and set it aside as she listened to Castle reading the titles of the books out loud, smiling when he would make comments about them.

" _Harry the Dirty Dog_ , I read this one to Alexis, it's really good," he was saying as Beckett joined them.

"Yeah, she said that," Julia replied as she leaned against him. She smiled when he wrapped an arm around her, and then pointed to the next book telling him and her mother, "I wanna read that one second."

" _The Oregon Trail_ ," Castle said. "They made a kids book about that game?"

"I don't think so Dad," Alexis said. "I looked through it; it's just about the trail."

"Should be interesting," Beckett said. "And this one?" she said as Castle got to the last book.

"I asked if I could get it 'cause it's got a pony on it," Julia giggled shyly.

"This will be an interesting one to read too," Castle commented. "Okay, so, Kate, how long until we put her to bed?"

"Not that much longer," Beckett said with a smile. "So if we do something we'll have to do it quick."

"Oh, Alexis, we didn't show our stuff we got!" Julia said suddenly.

"I'll get the bag," she told her sister, going to the table where the bag from the museum was still. "Okay, so I got this," she said, taking her item out first. She sat down to unwrap it and showed her dad and Beckett a statue.

"Shiva?" Castle guessed, his daughter nodding to that. "That's a nice one; you don't have a Shiva statue yet do you?"

"No, and I almost didn't get it," Alexis said. "Julia found it and she read the card that came with it, well, she recognized the word dance, and whispered as loud as she could to me to get my attention."

"What does it say about dance?" Beckett asked.

"That basically dance is to bring a sense of oneness of God and creation," Alexis summarized. "She liked that."

"It means it's a good thing," Julia said earnestly.

"It is sweetie," Beckett said, smiling at her and kissing her forehead. "Show us what you got now."

"You can open it," Julia said with a giggle as she took out two things, handing them to both her mother and Castle.

"It? I think you mean them," he teased her. He took off the paper, and said, "A geode?"

"Two of them," Beckett said with a smile, holding a geode similar in color but different in pattern. "For your books?"

"Yeah, do I have shelves for my room?" Julia asked.

"You will," Castle assured her.

"One last thing," Martha said, taking out the last thing in the bag, smiling as Julia ran to her to take it.

"I think she's telling you your tray is getting old," Beckett teased her fiancé as she held the carved wooden tray.

"I liked this one 'cause I knew you would like it Mommy, and Alexis said you'd want a new one to have breakfast on," Julia said, leaning against Castle's knees. "And you have to use this just for Mommy," she said sternly.

"Okay," he said, laughing slightly.

"Good, do you like it?" Julia said at first firmly before getting a little shy.

"I love it," Beckett said reassuringly.

"Me too. And I'll definitely use it for your mom. But for now," Castle said, taking the tray and setting it on the coffee table. "Time to get some sleep, say goodnight to your sister and gram."

Julia pouted for a moment, but then hurried over Martha and wrapped her arms around her saying, "Thank you for going and I'm glad you let us play in the park."

"You're very welcome darling, I'll take you to camp too, with whoever else goes in the morning," Martha said as Julia kissed her cheek. She kissed her back and then told her, "Sweet dreams, and good night, I love you Julia."

Smiling, the little girl hugged her a bit tighter before going to Alexis and throwing herself against her saying, "Thank you for everything today!"

"You're welcome," Alexis told her sister with a laugh. She kissed her cheek and said, "I'll come up soon, but since you'll probably be asleep by then, goodnight Jules."

"Thank you, night Alexis," Julia said, kissing her and then going to her mother. She took her hand as Beckett stood and waved to Martha and her sister before they went up the stairs with Castle behind them. "Can we read tomorrow?" she asked her mother as he picked her up next to the bed.

"Yep, we'll start with the pony book," Castle told her, sharing a kiss with her as she hugged him. "Oh, something I wanted to ask you," he said as he helped her under the bed sheet.

"Kay," Julia asked, laying down at her mother's touch.

"Is that tray our wedding present?" Castle inquired.

"No," Julia said, shaking her head. "That's just for Mommy, but you too 'cause you will give it to her with breakfast on it."

"We did love it sweetie," Beckett commented. "And I'm a little surprised that it isn't our present."

"That's not perfect," Julia said simply.

"Of course," Castle said, shrugging as he looked at his fiancée.

"Say goodnight," Beckett said with a slight laugh as she pushed him to the bed.

"Okay, your mom's right, you should go to sleep," Castle said, squeezing Beckett's hand before sitting on the bed. He leaned over, kissing her forehead and sharing another kiss with her before saying, suddenly serious, "I love you Julia, so much."

Blushing, Julia nodded and patted his cheek saying, "I hope you feel better."

"I will, don't worry about me," Castle assured her before he gave her hand a loud kiss then moved to let his fiancée to sit.

"And I agree with what he said sweetie," Beckett said with a gentle smile at her. "I love you so much too. And we'll be here in the morning to have breakfast and we'll try to take you to camp okay?"

"Kay, I love you Mommy," Julia replied smiling. She shared a kiss with her and hugged her tightly before saying, "I hope you and Castle have sweet dreams too."

"We will," Beckett assured her. She leaned down, kissing her forehead before tucking Julia in. "Sweet dreams," she murmured when she was done. At that point she and Castle went to the doorway, waiting for their daughter to fall asleep as she leaned against his side, biting her lower lip before they were sure she had nodded off. As they went to the stairs, she squeezed his hand tightly, smiling when he did so first, knowing that he was thinking of how their daughter had helped them both forget everything and that he was as grateful as she was for that.

* * *

Walking into the bedroom, Castle paused when he saw that Beckett was asleep on her side of the bed, curled up on top of the comforter and looking like she wasn't very comfortable; at least to him. He went to her, sitting next to her and he carefully brushed the backs of his fingers over his fiancée's cheek, waking her up.

"I fell asleep?" Beckett said as soon as she was aware of how she was laying. She turned her neck and groaned, feeling the muscles protesting on the left. "I was just going to rest my eyes waiting for you," she told Castle as he started to rub the side of her neck.

"What time did you get to bed last night?" he asked, looking at his hand on her.

"Late, I think Lanie left at… late," Beckett sighed before yawning. "So I didn't get as much sleep as I should have, Julia woke up early, around seven thirty. Thanks," she said, making him stop his massage. She kissed his palm and said, "Sorry if you wanted anything."

"I'm good," Castle said, surprised she'd said that.

"Sorry, I'm just exhausted," Beckett sighed.

Grimacing Castle said, "I didn't help matters Saturday night did I?"

"No, but that was partially my fault too," Beckett said with a smile as he looked genuinely guilty. "Do I look that bad? Bags under my eyes?"

"Some shadows," Castle said, stroking her cheek. "We should get to bed."

"Well, since I'm almost in bed, you better join me," Beckett said, sighing as she got up. She glanced at her fiancé as he walked around to the other side to set his phone down and set his alarm before she said, "Love, you know I'll do whatever I can."

"I knew already, I'm in very good hands; soft hands too," Castle said, joking at the end though his expression remained serious. "Come on," he said, taking her hand as she was still standing next to the bed. Once they were under the cover he met her for a kiss, which started out a little gentle, but developed into something slightly more intense, and ended up with his tongue gently stroking against hers before they parted to breathe. "Goodnight love," he told her simply, seeing she still looked to be pretty fatigued.

"Night Rick," Beckett said, smiling at how easily they had gone from calling each other by their last names to their names and endearments. She wondered, as they kissed, if they would really call each other by their surnames after the wedding. She reached out to turn off the light on her nightstand, knowing she'd find out once it occurred.

Castle wasn't all that surprised when Beckett fell asleep swiftly, and he kissed her forehead gently before allowing himself to begin to join her. It was hard not to feel a lot more at peace at that moment, knowing she believed him innocent of the murders, but there was something still about the case that made him anticipate something, some change that he couldn't explain. His relief as he finally went to sleep was that he knew his fiancée felt the same, and she meant it when she told him they were in it together; whatever might come to pass.


	3. Darkroom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is the title of a song by Paul McCartney, from his album McCartney II.

Brushing the woman's hair back over her shoulders, he made sure that she was steady against the instrument he'd created by hand. He tried to move her fingers as they should be, but they were stiff and unyielding to his efforts. But he finally left her, satisfied that he'd done the best he could. Turning to his right, he looked over the woman there; who looked more androgynous than her gender; straightening the wings strapped to her back.

Last was the man, but there was no need to fix him, he was complete and exactly as he had wanted. He left his tableau then, wishing he could be there to see when she would first discover it, wondering what repercussions there would be to this second murder.

Leaving the apartment was easy, it was very late, and his search had led him to the building, knowing no one would be out by then. Slipping away into the night, he walked the many blocks to where he knew she was, his jaw clenching as he knew she wasn't alone that night. But as he gazed up to the top, he smirked slightly, knowing that she would soon find herself on her own.

He could only remain momentarily, and finally he left, going back to his haven, stepping over the traps for rats that had threatened his work. Kicking a few that were filled out of his way, he went inside his room, going straight to the small one he'd made at the beginning of the year when he had discovered she was engaged. He turned on the red light and getting the roll of film from the old Pentax, he set to developing what he had managed to capture in the last three days.

He worked in silence, watching each photograph come into focus and breathing out, almost in a sigh each time he saw her. He hung the pictures up when all of them were finished, and he touched the last one, taken that very afternoon when she had been with her daughter. He frowned and shook his head, as he knew he wouldn't be able to keep that since she was holding the little girl. But he would be able to work with the rest, smiling in satisfaction at the fact that he had mainly clean photos.

His work done in his makeshift darkroom, he left and went to the pile he still had left to go through. "You'll be proud of what I've done," the man said as he lifted up the first picture, of Beckett and Castle standing inside a market. He set it down quickly, and proceeded to scratch at Castle, going rapidly; trying to get his image off what was otherwise perfection.

Seeing none of his scratches broke through to the other side, he went to his wall of similarly marred pictures and sighed, too many of them like that still for his tastes. "Tomorrow Katherine," he said, tapping Castle on the left of that picture that was then on the wall. "Tomorrow you'll see what I will do for you. How I take care of you."

Turning he went to the last two postcards and studied them intently for a long time before he chose the next one. Humming under his breath for a moment, he said, "Just in case," looking over to the wall of clear pictures. "This one for tomorrow, you know what flowers mean Katherine," he said to each photograph. "I heard you, so you'll know." He turned the postcard to the wall and said, "Dahlias for elegance and dignity. They suit you, I would send them to you, but I can't take the risk, he's done that already," the word he's nearly hissed past his teeth.

To calm himself down he looked back at the postcard and tapped some more flowers telling the pictures, "Aster for love, daintiness, trusting. All for you Katherine, each and every meaning of that, even when you are fighting, you are a woman, you can be weak. You will be weak if I need you to be."

His laughter echoing through the room, he had to get a hold of himself before he said, "These are part of the sunflower family." He considered the gaillardias and said, "No meanings for these, but the sunflowers stand for pure and lofty thoughts." He tossed the postcard back to the table and said, "Think you'll know why I picked this? I can tell you right now that he gave no thought to that. He wanted it only for his book, what he wanted you for first Katherine. You saw that so clearly for four years, why cloud your eyes to the truth?"

His hands clenching into fists, he went to the darkroom, opening the door and taking the picture of Beckett with Castle walking with her down the street, his arm around her and he took it back to the desk. He took a knife, and began to cut, first over Castle's face. Then over Beckett's back where his arm was slung across. When he finally came back to himself and had managed to stop, the picture was in tiny pieces, all except for Beckett's face. "See what he made me do?" he directed to her. "I could have saved this, but he made me destroy it."

Tossing the pieces in the trash, he held what was left of her face telling her, "He's pushed me to this Katherine, I would never do this, but you need to see, he's never going to be perfect for you, and I can take you away from what you have now, give you what you've always needed but never had. You'll be with me, and what we have will be real, more real than he has been as your… boyfriend… your fiancé," hissing those words outright. "More real than the kid is." He finally let the last piece drop into the trash with the others saying, "Even if I need to show you what I will do for you… I will, I'll make sure you know how serious I am." He took a knife and threw it, hitting a scratched up Castle in a photo, square in the face that wasn't there anymore. "Even if it's by force."


	4. While All My World Is Sad And Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Someplace Else by George Harrison, from his album Cloud Nine.

"Okay, so we're ready to go right?" Martha asked as Castle and Beckett came out of his room.

"Now we are," Beckett said, glancing back at her fiancé. "We're going to make an interesting group going into the school."

"Why did we never do this before?" Alexis asked as they left the loft.

"Good question," Castle said as he was locking the door. "But better late than never."

"How do we all fit in the taxi?" Julia asked, holding Martha's hand as they walked down the hall.

"It'll be a van," Beckett pointed out. "I wonder if I should have called my dad to join us," she mused as she and Castle walked behind the others.

"Could he have gone to work from her school in time?" he asked her.

"Next time," Beckett said simply, squeezing his hand before she let it go.

"So what do you think you're going to do today Jules?" Alexis was asking as they rode down to the lobby.

"I wanna do all the art there is," Julia said before she giggled slightly. "And make something for all of you."

"That's very sweet of you kiddo, I look forward to whatever you make for me," Martha said. She was surprised at the look Julia gave her and cupped her chin saying, "What's wrong?"

"I know what to make for you already," the little girl said, a wide smile on her face. She laughed a little when Martha leaned down to kiss her forehead and said, "Are you picking me up?"

"I am," Alexis said. "And then we'll go to Gram's studio and pick her up okay?"

"Kay," Julia said with a smile. "Oh, Mommy, Castle," she said suddenly.

"Hold on sweetheart," Castle said quickly as they were walking through the lobby then. Once they were inside the van and were heading to Mt. Surrey, he said, "Go ahead."

"I'm gonna ask if we can listen to music while we do the art," Julia said. "Like I do when I go see my doctor."

"That's a good idea," Alexis said, sitting in the very back row with the little girl. "If you can do that it'll be really interesting to see what you come up with today."

"I'll show tonight," Julia said with a smile.

"I'll definitely be looking forward to that," Castle said, feeling Beckett's hand on his shoulder. He then told his mother and Alexis his idea of going to Coney Island that weekend, and they asked Julia what she would want to go on if they went to the amusement park. He couldn't help wonder though, if he would be there to join them at all.

When they reached Julia's school, Beckett took Castle down the sidewalk a little; after he'd paid for the ride; and told him, "I just remembered something, whoever is trying to frame you, didn't bother to try and do so when you didn't have an alibi."

"I thought of that," Castle said with a frown. "And I think that's the reason."

"I was hoping…" Beckett started to say, shaking her head. She sighed then and told him, "So you think he's trying to get you off the NYPD?"

"Or put me in jail or both," Castle said with a slight shrug. "And before you ask, I have no idea who would want to do that, well, one person, but we're not agreeing on that."  
"Are you two going to join us?" Martha called out then since they were waiting at the entrance.

"If I'm arrested at all during this case, I want you to come back to the loft, I'd feel better knowing you were there… just in case," Castle told his fiancée suddenly, taking her hand.

Nodding, Beckett said, "If I can go, Julia and I will be there," glancing at the bags they were each holding. She'd had to repack all the clothes that she and their daughter had left at the loft, both she and Castle already anticipating a search in relation to the murders. "I'm surprised I haven't gotten any calls," she murmured.

"Maybe we're lucky and the fingerprint search is going to take some time," Castle commented, keeping his voice low. That morning before they'd left his room Beckett had received a text from Esposito, letting her know CSU had found a fingerprint on the back of the postcard. That had led him to have to explain to his fiancé that he'd held the postcard painting side up, and the print was likely his thumb. He was shaken from his thoughts when Julia suddenly ran to him and took his hand. He smiled down at her as she looked up at him a little worriedly, and he squeezed her hand gently as they walked into the elementary school's cafeteria.

"Hi Julia!" a little girl said, running over to her. She paused when she saw everyone with her and looked to Julia.

"This is Alexis, she picks me up remember? And Martha too. And this is Castle he's an uncle I have," Julia explained. "This is Maggie."

"Julia will be able to play in a second," Beckett said as her daughter's new friend at the camp waved a little shyly at them. "Just give us a little time to say goodbye to her okay?"

When Maggie had gone, Julia turned to Castle and frowning started to say, "I'm sorry-"

"It's okay, that's not the first time you introduced me like that," he told her, tugging the French braid he'd made in her hair playfully. "But pretty soon you won't need to say I'm your uncle you know."

Julia just smiled shyly before she went to Martha and hugged her goodbye before she went to her sister. "Will you show me what you learned to play?" she asked, nodding to the sitar case in Alexis' hand.

"I definitely will," the young woman promised. "Have fun with your art, and hopefully your music too."

"I hope I can listen to music," Julia said earnestly before hugging Alexis as tightly as she could. She then went to Castle and hugged him tightly around the neck before pulling back and asking, "Do you feel better?"

"A little," Castle said, running his hand over the back of her hair. "But don't worry about me sweetheart, I want you to focus on your art today and have fun okay?"

"Kay," Julia said with a nod and a smile. She then went to her mother and hugged her as hard as she could when Beckett had knelt down before saying, "I love you Mommy."

"I love you too sweetie, but I agree with what Castle said; I think we all do," Beckett said before she shared a kiss with her daughter. "We want you to have fun today at camp. And if you do listen to music-"

"Actually, excuse me for a second," Castle said abruptly.

"What's he doing?" Julia asked in surprise as they all watched him go over to the counselors.

"I think he's asking for you about your music," Beckett said, smiling slightly as she shook her head a little. "Well?" she asked, amused at his jog back to them. She was relieved though to see the concerned look off his face, wishing he could forget for much longer than in just that moment.

"They said it's okay, but they're going to ask you what will be good to play; I told them you and Alexis have painted together to music before," Castle told them, looking at Julia.

Gasping, the little girl cried out, "I can play _Jai Sri Krishna_!" looking at her sister.

"You could, but don't forget Paul's songs," Alexis replied.

Nodding eagerly, Julia hugged Martha, her sister and Castle hurriedly before she went to her mother who picked her up. "I'll have fun now Mommy, but be careful when you work," she said, hugging her around the neck.

"I will," Beckett assured her, kissing her cheek before they shared a kiss. "I can't wait to see you later, I promise we'll try and get back as soon as we can."

"Kay," Julia said as she was being set back down on the floor. "I'll show you all my art," she told them, looking at them all. "And if they like my music too. Ooh! I have to tell Celia that Paul is better."

"Then you better go," Castle said with a smile at her exuberance.

"Yeah, bye, thanks for bringing me!" Julia cried, waving to them before she hurried to her friend already at one of the tables set up for the artwork that day.

The four watched Julia for a moment, but finally Beckett pointed out that she needed to get to the station, and they reluctantly left. "Okay," she said once they were outside of the school gates. "I need…" she started to say when her ringtone for texts went off. She looked up at her fiancé as she opened the message, and then breathed out saying, "They've identified the woman from the sketch," relief thick in her tone.

"Is she at the station?" Castle asked.

"They need to find her," Beckett said. "But they know who she is right now."

"Okay, I guess we should go," Martha said. "Alexis would you like to share a cab?"

"Alright, but Padma's place is first," the young woman replied. "See you later Dad, Beckett."

"Have fun at the lesson," Castle said, nodding to the sitar. "Hope you'll show us what you learn."

"I will," Alexis replied, going to the curb to hail a cab.

"I thought to take them to your father's building today," Martha told Beckett quickly. "To swim."

"That would be nice, just text him to see if you can do that," Beckett told her. "But… you'll have to stop by my place to get her things."

"That's alright," Martha said. "We'll take care of everything. Goodbye and good luck on the case."

Watching as his mother got into the taxi that had stopped, Castle breathed out in a hard exhale saying, "I'm really hoping that's not going to end up being an ironic comment."

"Let's go," Beckett said simply, hailing a cab then herself. As they were on the way to her place, her phone rang with another text, and she hurriedly read the message.

"What?" Castle asked as she shook her head, a slight frown on her face.

"There's been another murder," Beckett said, looking up at him then.

* * *

"Hey, so this is definitely a serial killer," Esposito said to Castle and Beckett as he'd been waiting at the elevator. "There's three bodies inside."

"Three?" Beckett asked, pausing before she looked at Castle.

Giving her a very brief nod, Castle said, "Is it a painting?"

"We haven't found a card yet, but the way they're dressed…" Esposito began before trailing off.

"Okay, let's see what we have," Beckett said, starting to walk down the hall. "Oh, anything on the fingerprint and also the woman from the sketch?"

"Her name is Amelia Monk, and we're still trying to get through her list of jobs," Esposito replied. When they looked at him he said quickly, "She has temp jobs, and they're in alphabetical order, so we're not sure which one is the one she's at now. And as for the fingerprint, there have been a string of robberies in some high end apartments, so Robbery's got precedence over our case at the moment. But they should be running it pretty soon."

"If we need to, we'll have to get it from CSU to run," Beckett said, hoping it wouldn't come to that though. She let Esposito stop and go back to someone from CSU that was getting off the elevator and she whispered to her fiancé, "If two of them look like us…"

"I know," Castle said, nodding his head before they reached the open door LT was standing outside of.

Pausing for a moment, Beckett called to Lanie, "Is it the same?"

"Definitely, I can smell the arsenic on their lips and tongues, so an even higher dose was given to them. Great party," the doctor replied, pointing to the table in an alcove next to the kitchen.

"So there are three places set," Castle said. "Any other place settings in the dishwasher?" he asked the member of CSU who was dusting the faucet's handle.

"There isn't, it's more likely that the killer took their place setting with them," the woman said. "I'm not getting any fingerprints here detective."

"He's doing a more thorough job of cleaning up after himself," Beckett commented. "Lanie, time of death?"

"I'd say between twelve and two last night," she replied.

Waiting for the CSU member to leave the kitchen, Beckett waited for Castle to come over to her and asked, "Which one?"

"I don't remember the name, but it was… mid 1800's, late 1800's?" Castle told her, trying to remember. "But it was this, a knight, a woman playing a… harp? I have no idea what that is, but they made it by hand and I think they're pretty close to it. And then an angel that… you can't quite tell if it's a man or a woman."

"Is the angel a man or a woman?" Beckett then called out.

"A woman," Lanie answered. "No signs of a struggle, but I'll have to get them back to the morgue to really be definitive about that."

"Unlikely there will be," Beckett said. "But we could maybe search the costumes."

"Okay, I have an ID on all three of the vics now," Esposito said, coming into the apartment. "Your knight there is Trent Dayton, the woman in the middle is Janice Weatherall and the angel is Marguerite Mercer."

"Whose apartment is it?" Castle asked.

"Weatherall's, the other two are friends of hers, we talked to the landlord who discovered them," Esposito said.

"Why was she here?" Beckett said.

"She was scheduled to bring a maintenance man, but the man was late so she went ahead because she was trying to call Weatherall, but got no response on the phone, and she discovered them like this," Esposito answered.

"Detectives," another CSU member said then, handing something to Beckett. "We need to take that back to the lab."

Beckett didn't say anything to that; instead held up the postcard and looked from it to the tableau and she sighed before turning it over. " _Alas I know a love song, sad or happy, each in turn_ ," she read the thick text written in marker.

"Read the description," Castle murmured under his breath.

"It's lyrics from a folk song," Beckett said. " _The Love Song_ , by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. And according to this it was painted between 1868 and 1877. So there's no connection with the first painting, except for the Met and it being on one of their postcards."

"I'm a little curious," Ryan said, having been listening from the doorway. "If the killer didn't work there still."

"You guys finished the background checks after you tried to see how much of the gift shop security footage was erased right?" Beckett asked, handing the card in the evidence bag back to CSU.

"Yeah, no one popped," Esposito said.

"Then he's a patron," Castle said. "You might need to look through the members of it."

"Or we might have to look at the footage at these two paintings. But he might have been smarter than that, and just went to the gift shop," Beckett sighed. "So we don't have a chance to see him. Anything from the canvas?"

"Her neighbor across the hall let me know that she heard the door open at nearly two," Ryan said. "And I asked if she was close with the owner-"

"Janice Weatherall," Beckett let him know.

"Well, she said they were friendly, but not as much as the friend of our first vic so she can't tell us too much," Ryan said. "I asked her if Weatherall was holding a dinner party or something, and she just said she saw three people at the door before they were let in at about twelve before it opened the second time later on. They were pretty loud, so she looked out the peephole to see what was going on."

"Three? Anyone out of place? Dark clothes or something suspicious?" Castle immediately asked hearing that.

"I'm afraid not, I tried to see if she could describe what they looked like, but she could only see the backs of their heads by then," Ryan told them. "Asked the landlord earlier about cameras, they are in the elevators, and the lobby, but there is a way to get inside without going through there to get to the stairs with the way the restaurant is attached to the lobby."

"Then get the footage for both elevators and search them a bit before the neighbor told you she looked out the peephole," Beckett said. "We'll head back to the station, and start looking into the families and friends of all three of them. Lanie, call if there's any other method of death or anything suspicious." She then turned back to Ryan who had started talking on his phone, and said, "Did they find our woman from the sketch?"

"She's at the station," Ryan said as he hung up. "And they picked her up at the Met."

* * *

"So Ms. Monk," Beckett said to the woman sitting across from her and Castle at the table in interrogation. "I'm wondering what kind of temporary job you're doing at the Met right now."

"I've been helping transport paintings since March," Monk said simply. "I help carry them to and from galleries, help switch out paintings they want to take off viewing."

"Okay, and where exactly is it that you work," Beckett said.

"All over the museum if you're asking what section it is exactly," Monk replied. "The only place I don't work at is the Egyptian area."

"Okay, so have you seen this painting before?" Beckett asked.

"Yes, but I never worked with it, only passed it by," Monk replied.

"And this one?" Beckett said as she put a photograph of the newest postcard in front of the woman.

"Hmm, no I don't believe so," Monk said, frowning for a moment before shaking her head. "Were they stolen? I don't think I heard anything-" she began to say.

"She's not with Robbery," Castle said, nodding to his fiancée. "She's with Homicide."

"Okay, why… why are you asking me about paintings? No one's been murdered at the Met have they?" Monk asked.

"No, do you know this man?" Beckett asked, sliding the picture of Cane across the table.

"Oh, Bobby, yes of course," Monk said, beginning to smile. But she seemed to realize something, and she quickly looked at Beckett asking, "Is he dead?"

"And this woman?" Beckett asked, showing her the picture of Benson.

"That's Bobby's ex-girlfriend," Monk said before starting to hesitate. "He, he told me about her when we were in bed."

"So what exactly was your relationship with Mr. Cane?" Castle asked. When the woman hesitated again, he asked, "Friends with benefits?"

"Without the friends part," Monk said with a slight smile. "We just slept together. I was thinking about making the relationship a little deeper but… I guess that's out of the question now."

"Your grief is heartfelt," Castle said sarcastically.

"I'm wondering if you're able to tell me if you know these three people, any of them?" Beckett asked, showing her the DMV pictures of their newest victims she'd been able to get before they went into interrogation.

"Um, I think I saw them at my building," Monk said simply after studying them.

"Where do you live?" Beckett asked.

"410 West Beech," Monk said. "In room 12L."

"Top floor, how can you afford it on temp jobs?" Castle asked. He could see Beckett out of the corner of his eye looking at him as his tone was accusing but he kept his gaze on the woman in front of them.

"I have money that I inherited, I don't need to work, but I like to keep busy," Monk stated. "I can understand why you would be suspicious of me, but believe me when I say I didn't kill anyone."

"Alright, where were you between the hours of ten and two Saturday night and then between twelve and two last night," Beckett finally said, knowing they wouldn't be able to get anything else from her.

"Oh, asleep for both," Monk replied. "You can check, my floor has security cameras, since we're the most expensive apartments."

"We will," Beckett said, standing and then leaving the room. "Damn it Castle, just tell her she's a prime suspect outright," she said a little angrily when they were out in the bull pen.

"Sorry, but she was irritating me," he told her apologetically. "And I was hoping…"

"I know," Beckett said, breathing out as she set her notebook down. She saw a text on her phone that had been on silent, and reading it saw it was from Lanie. "No signs of a struggle on the first vic, and she's letting me know that there probably won't be on the other two either, but will let me know for sure later."

"Yeah, I think we're all pretty aware that these murders are going to be the same," Castle said. "I just wonder why more arsenic."

"He had less time," Beckett said. "Remember we learned from Weatherall's mother that she was with her daughter yesterday afternoon until five, the neighbor saw that group of people at about midnight."

"So they ate dinner, and had their drinks…" Castle started to say.

"Let me see if I can catch her…" Beckett said, going onto her phone. "Absinthe," she said quickly, reading Lanie's responding text. "Is that the right time period?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"It is," Castle said hurriedly. "It was first made around the late 1700's, in Switzerland. So it was around when this was first painted."

"Okay, so do you really not remember the other two postcards?" Beckett asked her fiancé.

"No, I swear I would tell you what the other two paintings are if I knew for sure, but…" Castle said, shrugging.

"Okay, let me check on Monk's alibi, and we'll go to the Met," Beckett said, sitting at her desk.

"For what?" Castle asked in surprise as his fiancée picked up her desk phone.

"To see if you can remember the other two paintings if you see them again," Beckett told him simply. "Yes, this is Detective Beckett…"

* * *

"So nothing on the fingerprint yet…" Ryan started to say before he trailed off.

"Heading out somewhere?" Esposito said as Castle and Beckett walked past them, the writer making him and Ryan turn around and join them by grabbing their shoulders.

"Are we going?" Ryan asked.

"No, just Castle and I, and we're heading to the Met to look at those postcards again, see if we can't get some kind of possibilities," Beckett replied simply.

"We're thinking that maybe the killer's going in order of time," Castle said. "And since he's skipped a big chunk of time, we're going to try and see what there is in the 1900's."

"Good luck," Ryan said. "I can't see him setting up a scene like the two he's got already if he's going to use modern art."

"We'll see what we can find," Beckett said simply. "What about that fingerprint?"

"Nothing yet, but we got a call from CSU, there was another on the second postcard, looks like it's a match to the first," Esposito said.

"What about Monk?" Ryan asked.

"We checked her alibi, she was home all night, both nights," Castle said simply.

"I had to cut her loose," Beckett said then. "But I requested Officers Thomas and Rizzio to escort her to her apartment, if there's any other way for her to leave besides the hall which has cameras, then they'll give us a call."

"Great, so what do you want us to do now?" Esposito asked.

"Look into the financials of all five of our vics for me, I didn't get a chance to look at the last three, but I'd like you to try and see if anything hints at a trip to the Met in the last couple of weeks," Beckett replied.

"So you think there's still a connection with the Met?" Esposito asked.

"More of the idea that the killer met them there," Castle answered. "Either in the galleries or at a party like Hallowell was telling us he attended; you know the one that was his alibi."

"And if we get guest lists or footage of any parties, I'd like you guys to look at it," Beckett said. "I'll talk with the President in the gift shop while Castle looks at the postcards, and ask about any past parties." When the two men nodded to that she then said, "We left the leftovers from lunch on your desk Ryan," as the elevator doors closed in front of her and her fiancé.

"You don't think we should tell them?" Castle asked.

"And also tell them you have no alibi?" Beckett asked instead of replying. They were both quiet until they had reached her car, and inside she said, "I wonder if we should…"

"I don't know," Castle said, sounding a little weary then. "All of this happening at once. But, I think it's time Kate, and we beg them to keep this quiet."

"Then when we come back, we'll tell them, I'll have to try and tell Lanie somehow before Espo does," Beckett said, starting the engine. They were quiet again, and the whole drive to the museum was absolutely silent except for dispatch and other officers on the radio. As they were walking up the stairs to the museum a few minutes later she murmured, "I just hope they don't kill us once we tell them; especially Lanie."

Castle couldn't really reply to that, as they'd gotten to the entrance and inside he followed his fiancée over to the gift ship directly. As she waited for the President he went to the shelves with the postcards, looking over them intently and pulling each one up just enough to see if it would jog his memory, when it didn't, he continued on.

After thanking the President of the museum once she had learned all she could, Beckett shook the woman's hand and then walked to her fiancé. "Well?" she asked.

"Nothing yet, but I'm just barely half way through; and there are a lot of them," Castle commented. "What did she say?"

"That the last party they had was the one Hallowell was talking to us about for his alibi," Beckett answered. "Before that the party was a New Year's party on the second."

"Think you should look into it?" Castle asked, looking over at her.

"I know, it seems too far back, but remember when you said you wrote the manuscript and got these postcards?" Beckett reminded him.

Pausing, Castle nodded but didn't look at her, pulling up another one and pausing again immediately before pulling it out all the way.

"This is one of them?" Beckett asked. When he nodded, she turned it over to read the title, artist and year. " _Allegory of Music_ , Laurent de la Hyre, 1649. So his selection from the four is random."

"With regards to dates," Castle said, going back to the display and continuing his search.

"What made you choose this one?" Beckett asked. "In fact, if you're able to remember the last one, tell me why you picked those three."

"The second one that was used today… I liked the lyric from the folk song," Castle said simply. "And that one, because she reminds me of you on your guitar, now your mandolin actually. And the last one… the last one," he said in slight triumph as he pulled a card out fully. "The flowers. Before we talked about the meanings of these flowers, I loved how everything was focused on them and not the woman to the right. I thought I could twist things around and make it macabre," he told her as he handed it to her. " _A Woman Seated Beside a Vase of Flowers_ , by Degas in 1865, I knew it was Degas."

"Okay, I'll-" Beckett said before he took the cards from her and went to pay for them. "What if-"

"It doesn't matter, you're with me, you're my alibi for the reason I'm buying these," Castle said simply.

"Okay, then let's go back, but," Beckett started to say before cutting herself off. "How do we explain these?"

"I," Castle began before grimacing. "I didn't even think of that." He was going to tuck the cards back into his jacket pocket when his fiancée grabbed them, looking at her in surprise as they made it back to her car.

"They'll stay there for now," Beckett said simply as she tucked the two into her glove compartment. "I'll take them home tonight okay?"

"Yeah, we should put them in the floorboard," Castle commented.

"But now we know what the killer will be looking at next, we need to deconstruct the paintings and the crime scenes and-" Beckett said.

"Figure out what's specific to the two time periods, starting with the liquor. With Degas it was-" Castle said.

"Absinthe again, and in 1649?" Beckett asked.

"I don't know, let me look around France at that time, since that's where de La Hyre is from," Castle said as he got his phone. He tried every kind of search he could think of, but was unsuccessful. "Okay, then I think we should look at the clothes, since that theorbo in the allegory painting is likely going to be made by him again," he said when Beckett pulled into a space at the Precinct.

"Never even heard of that," Beckett replied. "And we could search the flowers, since I've never seen or heard of gaillardias." By then they were in the elevator, and she looked down at her phone as it began to ring, seeing it was Ryan. "Hey, we're in the elevator coming up-" she said to answer it before the doors opened.

"Mr. Castle," Gates said, standing in front of them with LT and Thomas with her. "If you'll come with me please. Detective Beckett, your partners need to speak with you about your case."

Looking at her fiancé, Beckett was only able to share a glance with him, and that glance was enough to tell her to not say a word. She stepped out of the car as Castle was led by the two officers to interrogation and she stayed until he was out of sight. She didn't even bother looking at Ryan and Esposito who were at the entrance to the bull pen, only rushed into observation as fast as she could without outright running down to it. She closed the door behind her, and she nearly lost her balance as that moment was being replayed in her head, circumstances much the same, but far different from when she had thought that everything was telling her her boyfriend was a killer.

"I'm a little surprised," Gates was saying in the room as she paced back and forth in front of Castle who was sitting at the other side of the table. "You don't seem to be too surprised by what I've just told you."

"I thought it was going to happen," Castle said, trying to be calm as he looked to the mirror, knowing that his fiancée was there.

"And why would you?" Gates asked.

Shaking his head, Castle said, "My fingerprints are on file, and they've been faked before. You have something more damning than just that."

"Very well Mr. Castle," Gates said, knocking on the door. She took what LT was holding, and came back to the table, throwing the stack of papers stapled together in front of him. "Your manifesto," she said simply, crossing her arms in front of her. " _She was dead, but her fingers were supple yet, enough for him to curl the long, thin appendages around the curled hair of the head, the blood gathering in the plate that was in her other hand, but not held, her muscles forced to carry her burden as her head was tilted down in a mockery of modesty, though she had asked for the head as a gruesome gift._ This very first line; and you have our crime scene."

"I wrote that back in January," Castle said firmly, meeting her gaze then.

"Yes, at the same time you bought four postcards from the Met's gift shop," Gates said sternly. "We know two of them were the same scenes as the murders yesterday and today. But what about those other two postcards?"

"That's not on record?" Castle asked.

"No, you've got connections," Gates said. "I've seen those connections before, and I know you could easily manipulate the records at the Met. A friend, Mr. Castle?"

"What? No, I'm not even a member there," Castle said angrily. "And I bought those postcards, but they were stolen from me, out of my desk."

Beckett held her breath, hoping that Gates wasn't going to remember to ask when that was, but her hopes were dashed the next instant.

"About a week ago," Castle sighed, hoping that lie wasn't going to come back and bite him in the ass. "But Sir, I didn't think I needed to report it, they were just postcards and at the time I thought they were lost."

"Then what's your alibi for Saturday night, and last night?" Gates asked.

Her breath caught in her throat, Beckett felt her heart drop to the ground as Castle looked away from both her and the captain, and she knew he wasn't going to say. She then heard the door open and she whirled around, about to order whoever it was away. "What?" she snapped, seeing it was Ryan, and he looked stricken.

"I'm sorry Beckett, but Gates wanted us to talk to Martha and Alexis, but we think you should," he told her. "They're here… and so is Julia," he finally said.

"What?" Beckett said, her voice almost echoing in the room. She pushed past Ryan who called to her as she passed him that they were in the break room, and hurried there, seeing through the closed door that Castle's mother and daughter were there. She didn't see Julia, but as soon as the door was opened, she was running into her arms. "Sweetie," she said, picking her up and holding her tightly. She waited for the tears, the sudden question of who she really was, but when her daughter cried, "Hi Mommy!" she felt like she was going to collapse to the floor.

"Here," Alexis said, taking Julia as Martha helped her dad's suddenly pale fiancée to the nearest chair.

"I'm so sorry darling, we didn't really have time to get her to anyone else, your father wasn't picking up, and Mrs. Parker's-" Martha told Beckett.

"Out of town," she finished for her. "I know, but, she's okay?" she whispered.

"She's fine, but we came straight here," Martha replied.

Beckett stood up then, going over to the door and talking to Ryan got him and Esposito to take her daughter to go out to the front of the building while she talked to Martha and Alexis.

"Beckett, has Dad been arrested again?" the young woman asked once the door was closed again.

"Not yet," Beckett finally said, sighing in sudden exhaustion. She then proceeded to tell the two what was going on, and finally said, "I'm supposed to talk to you, but I know as well as you do, there's been no one suspicious around. Unless while Julia and I weren't there, or when Rick and I were out?" When the two shook their heads, she closed her eyes and said, "I should warn you, he's probably about to be arrested or is being arrested right now."

"But you're his alibi for those two times," Alexis protested.

"You don't want to risk his being forced out yet," Martha stated, watching Beckett closely.

"And he doesn't want me fired," Beckett said. "Though at this point I'm likely going to be since I've known about the postcards for almost a whole day. I-" she started to say. She was cut off when there was a sudden scream and she ran to the door, seeing Castle at the hallway to holding, Julia with him, her arms wrapped around him as Officer Rizzio was trying to get her off him as Ryan and Esposito were running up to them. "Let her go!" she yelled to the officer. When everyone froze then, she hurried to her daughter and was able to pry her away from Castle, not surprised when the little girl collapsed in her arms. "I'm sorry sir," she said to the captain, glancing at her fiancé.

"Take him into holding," Gates said to LT and Rizzio. "Detective-"

"She's leaving now sir," Beckett said, rubbing her daughter's back. She whispered to Julia, "I'm sorry sweetie, I'll explain later okay?"

"My uncle doesn't hurt people!" Julia screamed as she was being given to Alexis.

Looking at Beckett, Gates nodded to Martha and Alexis to go, and once they were gone she said to her, "I'm sorry she had to see that."

"Not as sorry as I am sir, excuse me," Beckett said shortly before walking around her and going to holding where Castle was being led into the last cell. "Rick," she began before stopping.

"I know, but you know what to do now, look into the clothes, the liquor, anything else from those two paintings we have," Castle said once the door had closed in front of him. "They left right?"

"They did," Beckett said. "They had to go."

"They did," Castle said, agreeing with her. "Tell them I'll be home soon, and remember your promise," he reminded her.

"I'll go back to the loft," Beckett said. "But they'll probably get a warrant for it."

"Stay late, tell them to not go back yet… tell them to go to your dad's… or back," Castle was whispering. "And look at my computer, you know how to now. And look at my publisher's computer too, I get the feeling it was hacked there."

There was nothing Beckett could really say to that, since she'd thought of all that herself. So she merely nodded before she paused, seeing an officer at the end of the hall. She walked back out to her desk, nodding to Reynolds who remained to keep watch. She went to her desk and said, "We need to find anything that will exonerate him," to Ryan and Esposito who were waiting for her.

"Beckett," the latter began. When her eyes snapped to him he faltered but then said, "He has no alibi for either murder; just that he was at home asleep."

"And that was nearly the same alibi he had when he was being framed by Tyson," Beckett told him, just managing to control the anger in her voice. "He's been framed once, it can happen again. We need to look for any discrepancies in his financials."

"I'll look at those," Ryan said, shaking his head at Esposito. "He'll look at how you can get your hands on arsenic."

Sitting down at her chair as they left her then, Beckett allowed herself a moment, brief and jarring, of self doubt, not knowing if she could do it, prove her fiancé innocent with what little she had. She closed her eyes, and then went to her computer, beginning her search into the costumes on each figure in every last painting, trying to ignore her awareness of Castle so close, but unable to help her.

* * *

Castle wasn't sure what time it was, late he guessed, and he also guessed he could just look at his watch, but didn't want to move. He finally gave up, and stood, blood rushing through him as he'd been trying to meditate in the same position for a very long period. Tried and failed he thought to himself in annoyance. He hadn't seen his fiancée since he'd been locked up, and hoped his family was okay, but what worried him more was Beckett, and his head shot up as he heard the click of heels on the hard floor. He waited until the silhouette was closer and he breathed out in a whisper, "Love."

"Hey," Beckett said, smiling a little as he came up to the mesh and looked through it at her. "I really never thought we'd be doing this again," she murmured.

"Yeah, neither did I," Castle replied, keeping his voice low as she had. "You look tired though, have you taken any breaks at all?"

"One, to eat when Esposito and Ryan forced me to," Beckett said. "And I talked to Gates, about your alibi, to ask what would happen if there was someone to confirm it."

"Kate-" Castle said.

"She said that since we can't confirm your alibi, anything you tell us is going to be a fabrication, and since you're writer; according to her; you can make up anything you need to," Beckett said.

"So she's really looking at this as a way to get rid of me," Castle said, nodding. "So even if we told her you were with me-"

"She wouldn't believe it, and there wouldn't be anything to confirm it, remember the cameras in your lobby are…" Beckett started to say since he'd gotten a note from the building that the security cameras were down on Friday. "He's making sure everyone thinks it's you."

"Does everyone think it's me?" Castle asked, wishing he could do something as she looked to be beaten down with that last realization.

"I don't know, Ryan is adamant that it's not you, and he's with me on trying to prove you innocent," Beckett said.

"So Esposito believes I'm a killer?" Castle asked. When Beckett gave a short nod of her head, looking a little miserable, he said, "Any reason why?"

"That manuscript, the fact that you did write it, you admit to it," Beckett told him gently. "But I think he's looking at it as a betrayal of me, our partnership."

"I can see why he'd think that if I was the killer," Castle sighed. "How did you get back here though?"

"Told Reynolds that I would talk to you and see about your motive; see if I could discern that," Beckett said. "He thinks you're the killer."

"Reynolds never really liked me," Castle frowned. He shook his head and said, "Did you get a warrant?"

"I went to search, I was afraid CSU was going to break out their brushes though there wasn't really a need to do that," Beckett said. "But they didn't find anything."

"My phone?" Castle asked.

"Ryan found you withdrew enough money to buy a burner phone, but it was when we went to the movies, you bought the concession stuff for the four of us with that cash," Beckett told him.

"My laptop?" Castle asked.

"No, they left it, I worked on it there with Esposito watching, and there's nothing I can see that hints to a hack of the system," Beckett said simply. "I called tech to send them to your publisher's office, but the computer system he has is pretty complex, so they're going to have to go back tomorrow morning as soon as he'll let them back in; it might take all day for them to find anything."

"Okay," Castle said with a nod. "So we're at an… you're at an impasse," he corrected himself, clenching his teeth together for a moment. "Nothing to prove I was the killer, nothing to prove I wasn't."

"We do have one thing," Beckett said hesitantly. When he urged her to speak she quickly said, "The neighbor across from our second crime scene remembers that one of the two men in the group was tall… really tall."

"My height?" Castle asked.

"About three or four inches taller than Dayton," Beckett said.

"So it could be me or someone one inch shorter than me," Castle replied. He nodded and said, "The mayor?"

"She was in contact with Gates, and urging her to charge you formally," Beckett said.

"They haven't charged me?" Castle asked. He then realized the answer before she could say it and said, "You haven't charged me."

"It's too circumstantial, you bought yourself time with the story about the theft," Beckett whispered as she felt like Reynolds was in the doorway at the end of the room. Turning her head, she frowned when she didn't see him there, sure she'd felt someone watching them, and then turned back to her fiancé as he was speaking.

"I know, I just hope that'll be enough time," Castle said.

"Rick," Beckett began. "I think, if there isn't another murder soon…"

"You're right, just… try and see what you can find before you do that," Castle said. "I don't need them to fire you for withholding evidence."

"Yeah, you know, I thought that was pretty ridiculous, but now I think about how much the mayor seems to hate you hearing her over the phone earlier… she would probably push the Commissioner," Beckett said with a sigh. "Especially since I was in trouble not that long ago with IA." When she saw Castle looking at her questioningly she told him, "She wants a clean NYPD and won't give any second chances."

"Then I'm going to be gone in a short while, whether it's going to the tombs or leaving my position with you… if you want to call it a position," Castle said, rubbing his face with his hand. Looking up at his fiancée he grew a little concerned asking, "You okay?" seeing she looked fatigued. "You haven't been sleeping that well lately have you?"

"No, but I'm fine, I'll get some sleep tonight," Beckett said in a tone that brooked no further discussion on the subject.

"How are my mother and Alexis?" Castle asked then.

"Not good, they're worried, but they're more so about our little girl," Beckett said, feeling tears burning the back of her eyes.

"Is she…" Castle wanted to ask but he wasn't sure how exactly he should.

"I spoke to her, after we'd finished the search of your place and I was back in my car," Beckett said. "I called them to let them know they had very little against you, and I talked to her then," she continued, unable to help remember that conversation as it was still very much fresh in her mind.

* * *

_"So they found nothing to incriminate him?" Martha asked her son's fiancée._

_"No," Beckett said simply. "Which was expected, luckily I was able to work on his computer there. I should have reminded him about the pictures he has there."_

_"How are you Kate?" Martha asked gently after there was a lengthy pause._

_"Holding up. Is Julia there?" Beckett said, quickly turning her attention to her daughter._

_"Yes, she's been very upset though, I'm not sure if she'll feel up to talking," Martha said, concern in her voice._

_"Let me try," Beckett said. She waited for the sound of the phone changing hands before asking, "Sweetie?"_

_"Mommy," Julia said simply, sounding like she was either crying or close to tears. "Is Castle with you?"_

_"I'm afraid not, but he's okay," Beckett said, not really feeling much conviction with her words._

_"No, what if he has to go to jail forever?" Julia asked. "Do you see that he hurt people?"_

_"No, he didn't sweetie," Beckett assured her, wondering why she hadn't thought of the fact that her daughter might not realize that Castle had alibis. "You know your grandpapa and I told you about alibis right, when you were wondering about why a person goes to court. Well, Castle has them with me, I was with him."_

_"Oh, oh Mommy," Julia said, bursting into tears then. "You can't say that though, 'cause then you won't work with him anymore."_

_"It's okay," Beckett said, remembering the call with the mayor just before the warrant had been signed and trying to forget the woman had basically told her to watch her step since Castle was her partner. "I won't need to say anything because they'll find out that he didn't do anything; that you were right about him not hurting people."_

_"Do Uncle Kevin and Tio Javi think he did that?" Julia then asked, sniffing loudly._

_"No," Beckett said, clenching her hand on the steering wheel at Esposito's being determined thinking it was more than likely it was Castle. She then realized that her daughter had spoken, and she said, "What is it?"_

_"I'm sorry," Julia then said, sounding teary. "I called Castle my uncle again, I don't like doing that."_

_"You needed to say that sweetie," Beckett said soothingly._

_"Are you gonna see him 'gain today?" Julia asked. When her mother replied that she wasn't sure; but she would try; she quickly said, "Tell him I'm sorry, I don't think he's my uncle."_

_"I will," Beckett assured her. "And he knows you had to say that."_

_"Did I get you in trouble 'cause I did that Mommy? With the lady that was there? Is she your boss?" Julia asked._

_"No, my captain understood you were upset seeing that, so I wasn't in trouble," Beckett said, relieved the incident hadn't gotten her in trouble. It was the first time she'd been relieved Gates was a mother, since it meant she could understand Julia's reaction to seeing her "uncle" in handcuffs. "I have to go," she then said, realizing she'd been in her car for a while. "And get back to work, but I'll see you tonight okay? I promise."_

_"Kay, I hope you are kay Mommy," Julia said softly._

_"I will be. But don't worry and try not to be too sad sweetie; Castle wouldn't want you to okay? And I know he loves you, and I do too, so much," Beckett replied._

_"I love you Mommy," Julia said._

_Saying goodbye to her daughter, Beckett hung up the phone and put her forehead in her hand, resting for a moment, trying to pretend that everything that day hadn't happened, that there was still a chance she would have her fiancé with her, to find the actual killer. But her car was silent, except for a sudden burst of static and then dispatch speaking over the radio, which made her jump before she started the car, heading for the station to see what needed to be done next._

* * *

"Yeah, I can tell she doesn't really like to call me uncle," Castle commented after Beckett had told him about the conversation. "But I'm glad she didn't think I'd done anything before I told her about my alibi."

"She loves you," Beckett said, keeping her voice low there.

"I know, thank you for telling her I love her, I was trying to tell her that as Rizzio was trying to get her off of me, but I wasn't sure if she heard me," Castle said before he shook his head. "That moment was… I felt like I was out of my body looking down on everything that was happening."

Hearing footsteps then, Beckett looked down to the doorway and saw that it was Ryan there. "I need to go," she told her fiancé. "If I spend any longer here someone's going to tell Gates."

"Go, I'll be alright here," Castle said. "Someone's close right?"

"Reynolds, but he'll be switching with Thomas in another hour," Beckett replied.

"Kate, go home," Castle whispered to her then as he reached up to the mesh where her hands were leaning against it. "Get some rest, come back tomorrow and try to find something okay?"

"Will you still be here?" Beckett asked.

"I could only call that favor in once," Castle commented. "You have until six tomorrow, you won't find enough, so I'll be out and home with you again," he told her with as much self-assurance as he could gather as their fingertips met between the metal. "Just remember that okay?"

Nodding, Beckett whispered as low as she possibly could, "I love you."

"I love you too," Castle murmured before she left then. He watched her go, not allowing himself to even blink before she turned the corner and was gone. He breathed out roughly in relief that she hadn't looked back, knowing that it would have been even harder to not call her back if she'd done that. He went over to the bench and laid out on it, crossing his ankle over the other and closing his eyes. Not trying to sleep, he began chanting in his mind, trying to forget where he was if only for the moment.

* * *

Standing up as soon as she heard the key in the lock, Martha went to the door while Beckett was coming inside, quickly apologizing when her son's fiancée jumped at seeing her. "I'm sorry, I was hoping; a little desperately; that Richard might be with you," she said.

"So was I," Beckett said with a frown. "How was she?"

"As well as can be expected," Martha sighed. "We had to urge her to eat through dinner, and she didn't seem to want to do much after that, just asking if we could call you to see if he'd been released."

"Is she asleep?" Beckett asked, looking at her watch.

"She is, but I'm sure this comes as no surprise to you, it took some time before she did," Martha replied. "Alexis is up with her, we thought it would be best if she was with her to make sure that she does sleep."

Nodding to that, Beckett watched her go over to the kitchen and said, "I'll check on her, really carefully." When Castle's mother only nodded, not turning from the kettle she was filling with water, she headed upstairs, wishing she'd taken off her boots beforehand. But as she opened the door to Alexis' room, she was relieved to see that the two were fast asleep, and she went to the bed, kissing her daughter's temple twice. Tearing herself away finally, she went back down, a little startled to see Martha there waiting for her, a cup of tea in hand.

"You could use the soothing qualities of this," Martha said simply as Beckett looked down at the liquid. "It has no caffeine, so you can get some sleep which I could see when you walked in that you needed." She was surprised when Beckett's hand froze and asked, "What's wrong?"

"No, your son was telling me I needed to get some rest too before I left," Beckett replied before taking the mug. "But it was hard to do that when I was trying to find a way to clear his name."

"The costumes?" Martha asked. "Before we left this morning… a lifetime ago, he told me about the dress from your first crime scene, I gave him some names of tailors I know who could make a dress that elaborate."

"I'll have to ask him about them tomorrow," Beckett said.

"What about you?" Martha asked. "You were with my son all of Saturday."

"Yes, but since we were alone, and there was no way to prove it with the security cameras out downstairs, I'm afraid I'm of little use to him now," Beckett sighed. "I had thought about the cab I took here that morning, but… there aren't any cameras outside or close enough to track myself."

"Your phone?" Martha asked as Beckett was taking a sip of the tea.

"It wouldn't put me in the building," she replied. "I'd thought of that too."

"You should get some rest," Martha said with a concerned look as she studied her closely. "You look completely worn down, and you won't be of much help to Richard if you are like that tomorrow."  
"I know, thank you for the tea," Beckett said, smiling a little. "Goodnight Martha."

"Goodnight darling, things will look better tomorrow, I'm sure," Castle's mother replied. She felt terrible for Beckett as she gave her a weak smile and then disappeared into her son's room. She sighed, going upstairs, and checked on her granddaughters, relieved to find them both still asleep, looking very peaceful, before she went to her room.

Inside Castle's room, Beckett looked around before gazing into her tea she had half drunk. Setting down the cup, she hesitated, starting to walk over to the door before she went to the armchair in the corner, picking up the floorboard and after tucking in the postcards, she took out one of the pictures there before getting another. She closed her eyes tightly, seeing the image in the darkness of her and Castle with their family; their family portrait they had finally been able to take Fourth of July weekend at the Hamptons.

Smiling a little as she looked down at it again, Beckett took it to the bed and sat on the edge, looking at the smiles on their faces. She couldn't help remember her dad's call to her as she was leaving the Precinct to return to the loft earlier, and how she'd had to assure him she was okay. But she knew her father didn't really believe her, not even really able to believe herself. She sat looking at the picture slightly longer, remembering how they'd had a playful fight figuring out the seating arrangements, since she and Castle had originally wanted Julia in between them. But finally she had sat to her right, her fiancé to her left, her dad on the other side of Julia, and Alexis and Martha on the other side of Castle in that order. They'd been a little squished that way, but had fit and also joked about needing to think of another arrangement as Julia grew up.

Beckett jumped when there was the sliding sensation of a tear down her cheek, and she hurriedly wiped it away muttering, "Damn it," under her breath. She put the picture back, making sure that the floorboard back in place was indiscernible with the stationary ones around it. Sure she had it set; she turned back in time to see Julia run into the room. "Sweetie," she said in concern, seeing the tracks of tears on her daughter's face. She went to pick her up, and sat at the end of the bed as the little girl began to sob.

"Where's Castle?" Julia whispered, her voice shaking with her crying.

"You should be asleep little one," Beckett said, trying to be soothing but knowing it wasn't working. The look that Julia gave her let her know she was right, so she said, "He's still there, but I swear he'll be out, and soon, they'll know he didn't do anything."

"I want him home," Julia murmured, shuddering. "It's not right he's not here," she then whimpered.

"You're right," Beckett said, agreeing with her completely. The room felt too empty without him there, and the sense of his presence was unnerving. Shaking that off she said, "But he'll be back, and you need some sleep okay?"

"Can I stay with you?" Julia whispered.

"Yes," Beckett said, relieved she wasn't going to need to be alone. She kissed Julia's forehead then and carried her to her side of the bed.

"No," the little girl pleaded, holding onto the collar of Beckett's blouse.

"It's okay," Beckett whispered gently. "Let me take off my shoes okay?"

Nodding, Julia got up on her knees behind her mother, leaning against her before she got onto the bed, following Beckett to the pillows. She cuddled close to her, wrapping her arms tightly around her mother's neck since she'd left her Stitch doll up with Alexis. "I love you Mommy," she said seriously.

"Castle and I love you too," Beckett assured her, knowing that their daughter was missing their goodnights to her. She shared a kiss with her daughter twice before Julia asked if the first was from him. She couldn't help smile tenderly at the little girl's hopeful expression and she brushed her lips across her forehead saying, "It is."

"What about your kiss? That he gives you?" Julia whispered.

"When he comes home," Beckett said. "Go to sleep sweetie."

"Night Mommy," Julia replied before she relaxed in her mother's arms.

Not surprised when her daughter was soon asleep, Beckett told herself to get up and change out of her clothes. But she was out, very quickly, and it would later lead her to believe her body was worn out from the stress of everything that had happened that day, taking the chance it got to regain her energy for the work she still had yet to do the next day to prove Castle innocent of murder.


	5. Every Move You Make

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Every Breath You Take written by Sting and performed by The Police, from their album Synchronicity.

Narrowing his eyes as he watched them, talking in hushed voices together, he found that his plan was a failure. Everyone believed that Castle was a killer… except for the one person he needed to think the same as all the others. He could hear them; unsure if they realized where he was standing was allowing him to hear them trying to comfort each other. He supposed the one consolation was that they were separated by the mesh. He stepped away then, as he'd been able to see Beckett starting to turn, and he quickly left the Precinct without managing to run into anyone.

He went straight to the building, and waited, watching for her to appear down the hallway. He was a little surprised when it was very little time between him getting there and her walking around the corner, but he was pleased, it had gotten her away from her fiancé for a night. He slipped inside then, wondering why no one had seen the other flaw in the layout of the loft. But it was to his advantage, as he was able to listen to the conversation between her and Castle's mother without them knowing he was there.

The wait seemed to be interminable, until he finally heard her come inside, and as he was looking on, Beckett went to the corner, doing something to the floor before she took out a picture frame. He nearly huffed in frustration; wondering why it had never occurred to them that the writer had a secret safe. But he guessed, as he could just barely make out the photograph she was studying, that the writer had only hidden things pertaining to Beckett and the kid in there. His lips curled up in a smirk as he realized that with him, she wouldn't have to go so far to hide their relationship.

A little lost in his thoughts with that in mind, he was startled from his reverie by the kid running in suddenly, and he watched as Beckett spoke to her, comforting her. His hands curled into fists, wanting to tell her that they would have their own; she would have no need to pretend to be a mother when that happened. Unsure of how much longer he could see her talking to the kid about Castle, assuring the girl that he would come back, he clenched his jaw tightly until they were both lying down in bed. He was a little surprised at how fast Beckett was asleep, but took the chance to leave his hiding spot once he was sure she was sleeping deeply.

Walking to the bed silently; so long in training had made him adept; he reached her, relieved to see the stress on her face since returning to the station was gone. He couldn't help but gloat that the fact that he was the one to see her like that, Castle only talking to her while she'd still been worrying about his arrest. But there wasn't anything more he could do, other than gaze at her, though he finally reached down, and with the barest touch, caressed her hair as far from her head as he could to keep her from feeling it.

Leaving the building, he went straight to his own rooms, ignoring his tools and instead picking up the phone already on the desk. "It's me," he told the person on the other end. "It didn't work." Listening to them speak, he sighed and said, "I'm not prepared yet, but tomorrow I can do it. I remember what you told me."

Hanging up, he reached into a drawer for a third phone, and dialed a number saying, "Tracy? It's Dirk."

* * *

Running his fingertips over the pictures on the wall, he murmured his steps to himself, trying to keep everything straight as he'd been taught to do. He was calm; also as he'd been trained. But eventually after repeating what he had to do for the third time, he let his mind wander off the subject. It was then he thought of Beckett, not hard to do since he was looking at photos of only her. He touched her cheek in a picture of her from Mother's Day, she'd been at the museum, and she had looked stunning. It was all he could do to keep himself away from her that day as he'd tried to stay close but not so much she could notice him. But what he had loved most about the shot and why he'd developed it into a large photograph to hang in the middle of the wall was her gaze. She was looking at him, yet not seeing him.

"You never see me," he sighed, in slight frustration as he stared into her eyes. "You always see him, even when you were with those other guys." Shaking his head he began a heated argument with her, albeit one sided since it was only her picture, telling her she had always chosen the wrong man. Even when they hadn't known each other, he told her she should have waited for him. "You had to have known that I was there, waiting for you to find me," he told her in a matter of fact voice as he paced back at forth. Shaking his head he said, "But I guess I can't get mad, you were searching still. Don't worry Katherine, I understand. But I'll make you forget them all, especially him." He nodded to the other wall and said, "I'm not sure what to do with the kid, but I'll figure it out."

Glancing over at his desk, he went over to it and took up the newest picture he'd been able to add that morning, of the night before when Beckett had been going into Castle's building. He had to marvel that she'd had no idea he was going to be arrested, wondering if she was ignoring the obvious of what would happen. Sighing, he tossed the picture into a file that was filled with other pictures and then stood up. He went to the third room, the one that he'd created himself as things had come together in his mind.

Turning on the light, he looked around himself, at all the pictures of Beckett there, his favorites, copies of them as the originals had always been for the main room. He paced off the size of the room with his feet, and nodded saying, "Perfect fit," a smile on his face. "A little shoddy, but I think it'll be enough." Turning his gaze up from the floor to the pictures he murmured, "I'll give you more Katherine, so much more than this."


	6. Looking For The Source

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Dark Horse by George Harrison, from his album of the same name.

Walking to her desk, Beckett got her bag off her shoulder and on top of it before she heard a noise to her right. Looking up, she saw it was Ryan, motioning to her as he glanced over at Gates' office. "Anything?" she asked as he closed the door to the break room after she'd gone inside.

"No, I just managed to talk to the neighbor across from Weatherall's apartment, she'd never seen Castle before yesterday, same as our first vic's friend," Ryan replied. "I looked to see if the vics' co-workers had noticed anything or had been told anything by the vics, but they all said no. When I mentioned Castle, they recognized him, but-"

"Because of his books," Beckett finished. She wasn't surprised when he nodded and frowning then said, "Then why the cloak and dagger? Espo is in Gates' office."

"I wanted to let you know before he did, that Esposito is now taking point on this case," Ryan said. When Beckett looked flabbergasted, he then added, "At Mayor Wilkins' orders."

"What… Gates is keeping her updated," Beckett said before she leaned against the sink. "I need to talk to Castle, do you think-"

"You're restricted to talk to him, unless either me or Esposito go with you," Ryan said, grimacing slightly when her face fell. "I tried to ask if she could do that, but she said she can't trust you, because of your partnership."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised," Beckett muttered. "Is there any way you can take me and…"

"I'll try and suggest to him," Ryan said, gesturing with his thumb to Gates' office. "To go to Castle's publisher's office to see how tech is doing, and we can try then. But I can't guarantee anything."

"How is he?" Beckett asked, frowning again.

"Castle's okay, I checked on him not too long ago," Ryan said. "It kind of freaked me out; he was just sitting there with-"

"He's started to meditate," Beckett interrupted. "He told me about Alexis getting interested in Hinduism, so apparently he's started doing that."

"Yeah, but he's fine, he just wants to get out," Ryan replied. When Beckett was quiet, staring at the sink he asked, "Do you want coffee or anything?"

"I'm fine," Beckett replied shortly going to the door. "Can you keep Esposito busy for me with the case, and I'll look into what I can to prove Castle has nothing to do with anything?"

"Of course. Beckett?" Ryan asked. "How's Julia?"

"Not good, I let her stay home from camp today, she's with Alexis, I thought being with her friend would help," Beckett said frowning.

"Maybe you should just-" Ryan began to say before the door opened behind her.

"Hey, did he tell you what Gates said?" Esposito asked, going over to the coffee machine.

"He did," Beckett said calmly. "Is this like we were when we were investigating the nurse's murder, or are you really in charge?"

"No, I'm really in charge, for the captain," Esposito said. "But she doesn't need to know every second how we investigate."

"Okay, so what I'd like to do-" Beckett began to say.

"Hold on, you didn't let me tell you what Gates told me just now," Esposito said. "We need to go over the case and if we can't find anything to discount the fingerprints, then we arrest him. But she's giving us until six to do so, when that twenty-four hours runs out."

"And we're just going to be looking at him as the killer," Beckett stated. When Esposito nodded, she frowned and said, "Alright, then we should get started, looking at everything from the start and see what we have." She went over to her desk then and sat down before saying, "Let's go over the first crime scene, what do we have as of right now?"

"Well, do you want to address this first?" Esposito asked, tapping the picture of Castle's manuscript.

"I don't think we should consider that just yet," Ryan said slowly. "We're still trying to see if someone hacked the computer his publisher has."

"You don't think he could do that?" Esposito asked.

Beckett opened her mouth to try and ask why he was so adamant about believing Castle was a killer before she stopped herself. "He's right, Ryan is," she said quickly when Esposito looked at her. "Set that aside for now, because until we get confirmation that the file it was on was hacked then we couldn't use it for evidence. So this crime scene, the killer had ample time to set up the tableau we have here. He had to cut the head off Cane, and get her to hold it before rigor mortis set in."

"Think that would be possible?" Ryan asked.

"It is, I asked Lanie once about that for a past crime we investigated, I can't remember which one," Beckett replied. "But she assured me you could do it, but it takes time to decapitate a body, so he would have had to hurry. I'm wondering if he could have staggered the poisonings…" she began to say before she went to her phone. She called Lanie, waiting for her to pick up.

"Beckett, Javi told me about Castle-" the doctor said in greeting.

"I know, but not now," Beckett cut her off quickly. "I need to know if it's possible for you to tell if any of our victims were poisoned in stages."

"That depends on how long of a stage you're talking about," Lanie said, answering the question immediately as she could tell her friend's voice was tense.

"Whenever the parties started and when they were killed," Beckett said.

"It's way too close to tell," Lanie replied.

Watching as she finished her conversation with the doctor, Esposito asked, "Could it have happened like that?"

"It could have. But she just got confirmation that there's a reason why the tests were a little distorted the first time they did them," Beckett said.

"Distorted?" Ryan asked.

"Their tox screens were a little misleading, the arsenic reading was higher than it should have been with the condition of the first two bodies," Beckett replied. "They were doing a second test and they found a dose of tranquilizers. So they were knocked out, so no, they weren't poisoned in stages." She sighed and then said, "Are you sure arsenic isn't harder to get?"

"I'm afraid not," Esposito replied. "Asked Lanie about that too, she asked a friend of hers who's a chemist, and a lot of labs buy a supply for research purposes."

"Okay, so we're definitely looking at the costumes, since the arsenic and Met were a bust with any kind of new information," Beckett said, looking at the murder board. She hesitated a little before she said, "Castle mentioned yesterday, before he was put into holding, that his mother could give him some names of tailors who could make-"

"Then he knew them," Esposito said.

"He-" Ryan started to say.

"No, listen, what we have is circumstantial, but if you give us those names I'm sure one of them will ID Castle as the person who put in the order for the costumes," Esposito replied. "And-" he began to say before he was sudden grabbed by his arm and dragged to the break room. "What the hell?" he asked Beckett.

"Why are you so ready to believe that it was him?" she asked, not bothering to tone down the anger in her voice. "You know him Javi, you know how he is, he would never hurt another person."

"Are you sure? Because that manuscript and that fingerprint are telling me that he could," Esposito said. "And you know he has a thing for costumes, remember that book he was saying he had tried to write."

"That was the Civil War, and that was a long time ago," Ryan pointed out.

"The fingerprints Beckett," Esposito replied. "How do you explain those? And don't tell me you believe that story about them being stolen from his desk," he told her, becoming angry himself then as she seemed to be infuriated at him.

"I believe him, because…" Beckett started to say before she managed to stop herself in time and snapped her mouth shut, turning away from her partners.

"Beckett?" Ryan asked carefully as she crossed her arms in front of her tightly, looking at the wall in front of her.

Finally deciding, Beckett turned around and said, "We're going to the morgue," before she walked out the door to grab her keys from her desk.

"Why are we going to the morgue, did Lanie want to talk to us again?" Esposito asked, looking at Ryan and seeing that he seemed relatively calm. He frowned at not getting an answer and down in parking said, "Beckett, if I need to pull rank-"

"Don't even try, if you want to solve this case, then you need to come with me," she interrupted him, not sounding angry, only stern. She stared at him until he nodded, and she turned back to her car, not at all surprised when Ryan rode up front with her.

* * *

"What are you three doing here?" Lanie asked, walking into her office after an aide had told her about their arrival.

"Are you busy?" Beckett asked her.

"Not really, I was just reviewing some paperwork on my last two procedures," Lanie replied. "What's wrong?" she asked, seeing how tense her friend was.

"You're wondering why I'm so sure Castle's not the killer," Beckett said, speaking to all three of them. When Lanie and Esposito nodded, she told them, "Well, I know he's not the killer because he has an alibi, for all the murders."

"Him being asleep?" Esposito asked, his voice tinged with exasperation. "Come on Beckett, that-"

"I'm his alibi," Beckett finally said in frustration. She watched them then, to see their reactions, but her gaze snagged on Ryan before she looked to Lanie and Esposito.

"You… you were with him for four… you're dating Castle?" the doctor finally said, getting past the shock of the realization.

"For how long?" Esposito asked. He then looked at his partner and said, "This isn't a surprise bro?"

"I knew," Ryan said. He wasn't too shocked when the other three said, "You knew?" all at the same time and replied, turning to Beckett, "Do you remember when you went to the Hamptons, and that guy came up to Castle's beach house?"

"You… that man you interviewed," Beckett said when she recalled. "He told you," she said as he nodded. She bit her lip and she said, "You didn't tell anyone."

"It wasn't my place, I almost did when Tyson framed him for murder, but I thought if he was proved innocent, what if my revealing your secret got out of control, got Castle kicked out of the station?" Ryan explained.

"Damn it Kevin, I thought-" Esposito said angrily.

"I couldn't tell their secret, it wasn't just Beckett's, but Castle's as well," Ryan cut him off, his voice a touch irritated. "It was theirs, not mine, and I had no right to tell it, not without them letting me know I could."

"So how long have you been with him?" Lanie then asked after Esposito just shook his head.

"Since I resigned," Beckett said simply.

"For over two years?" Lanie said. "How far has it gone?"

"Yeah, you know about us dating," Beckett said to Ryan, her voice a little unsteady then as she was getting a hint of the anger her friend was feeling. She spoke to him, as she felt with Ryan she would get the least anger in response to what she was doing, pulling her silver chain out of her blouse. "But you don't know about this," she said, nearly whispering as she showed him the ring with her pendant.

"You're engaged?" Lanie nearly shouted, just remembering to rein in her volume. "And how the hell long have you been keeping that secret from us."

"Espo," Ryan said, pulling his partner by the sleeve of his shirt.

Without a word, Esposito hurried after him out of the office, closing the door and leaning against it. Seeing the hall was empty, he whispered, "You knew?"

"Not about that ring, but it would make sense," Ryan said. "Don't hate her bro, or Castle, they've been holding that fear of losing their partnership for years now."

"I know, but did they really think we would tell everyone at the station? That we'd let Gates find out?" Esposito asked.

"It was a risk I think, because they were always really careful, after I found out about them I realized they were walking on eggshells, more so since she adopted Julia," Ryan said, watching his partner steadily to see if he would figure out what he was talking about.

"They want him to be there with her, to watch out for her while she's working," Esposito said, understanding then with the mention of their niece.

"I think so, we'll have to ask her when she comes out of there," Ryan commented.

"I just hope Lanie leaves her in one piece," Esposito winced. "But you can't blame her for being mad, after all the times she tried to get them together."

"Yeah, it was more pressure on them," Ryan said. "I had a lot of time to think about why they'd do that," he said with a shrug when his partner gave him a look. "Okay, now you know, do you think Beckett would be lying about being his alibi?"

"No, but why won't she say? She can't prove it?" Esposito said.

"I think that's it, remember the security cameras in his building are out, and if we tracked Beckett's phone, the tower would just put her in the area, not inside of his place, plus they were likely alone," Ryan said. "So we gotta look at this as a set up, we need to get him out of there so she won't lose her fiancé," he said firmly to make sure Esposito was over his initial anger, pointing to the door. "And Julia doesn't lose a dad."

Inside the office, Beckett was sitting in one of the chairs against the wall that Lanie had for guests as the doctor was pacing back and forth in front of her. "Lanie-" she began to say.

"Stop, I don't know if I want to hear your excuses right now Kate," the doctor snapped angrily. "How long have I been trying to set you up with someone, worrying about you being irreparably damaged psychologically because of what happened in Queens, and you've been seeing Castle this entire time? You never thought to confide in me, your best friend?"

"We, we were scared," Beckett said finally, after waiting to make sure she had nothing else to say. "We want to work together Lanie, it's part of our relationship. But we were terrified that it would get to Gates somehow, and that's exactly the kind of thing she could use to get Castle out of the 12th. We knew what we were doing was wrong, you're our friends; our family; and we knew we were hurting you though you didn't know. But we couldn't take the risk to go public, now…"

"Now you're just telling us because you have no other choice," Lanie said, leaning against her desk and watching her.

"I'm telling you because I don't want you thinking my fiancé is a murderer!" Beckett exclaimed, standing up then. "And because there's no reason to hide anymore, we're almost to August, and we're tired of hiding and waiting."

"You love him," Lanie said, her gaze on her friend intensely scrutinizing.

"I do," Beckett said, touching her ring for a moment. "And I've been with him all six hours of the time of death windows you gave us. He's not a killer."

"No, I believe you," Lanie said, sighing and going to the chair and sitting on it. She had found her anger slowly leaving her, very slowly, as she'd seen the state Beckett was in, her voice raw with her emotions; a way she rarely spoke with her though they'd known one another for a long time. "But it hurts me Kate, that you didn't trust us."

"We needed him to be there with me, and when Julia came along and started trusting him, she needs him with me, to watch out for me," Beckett replied.

"Does she love him?" Lanie asked.

"She does, he's her father, but she's waiting for us to get married and him to adopt her before she tells him that; calls him daddy," Beckett said, smiling a little wistfully.

"So he loves her that much," Lanie said. When her friend nodded she groaned and said, "I wish you had told me Kate, before I had you go on that date."

"You were right," Beckett then said as they were both silent for a long time. When the doctor looked at her she said, "He's it for me, I just need him to come home, so we can make that legal." She then took a shuddering breath and as Lanie's gaze shot up to her whispered, "I'm sorry."

The last of the first flush of her anger dissolved with that, and Lanie stood, going to her and hugging her tightly. When Kate said a heartfelt, "We're both so sorry," she shook her head saying, "I forgive you, but still a little angry I had to worry so much about you and Julia. It might take me a while to get rid of that girl."

"That's understandable," Beckett said quickly. "Should I go?"

"Not yet, let me see this ring closer," Lanie said simply. She watched as her friend quickly brushed away a tear from her cheek as she picked up the ring and said, "Did you two really feel guilty?"

"Every time we were with you guys," Beckett replied. "And this was big so I can't help-"

"Understandable too," Lanie said simply. "That's a pretty incredible ring," she commented. She then picked up the aquamarine and asked, "He buy this for you too?"

"At Christmas, I opened it in the morning and it was a test run for the ring," Beckett said, smiling at the memory.

Seeing the joy at that remembrance, Lanie felt a sense of relief that her friend had finally seemed to let go of whatever was holding her back in her past relationships. "So what do you do now?" she asked.

"Try and bring him home… if I can," Beckett said quickly before Lanie was hugging her again. She was relieved when her friend told her, "You will, you and Castle make a habit of doing the impossible," and couldn't help smile at that last comment, hoping Lanie would be right yet again.

* * *

"So all this time," Esposito said from the backseat of Beckett's car.

"Yes, are you going to start yelling at me now?" she asked, looking back at him.

"No, just kinda hurt like Lanie is you didn't bother to tell us," Esposito replied. "But I can understand why."

"You talked to him?" Beckett asked Ryan who was driving them back to the station. When he nodded she said a relieved thanks, and then turned back to Esposito, "Do you have any questions like she did?"

"How is he with Julia? And I'm talking about as a dad, not an uncle," he said.

"He's her dad," Beckett said simply. "And he loves her and he's going to adopt her as soon as we're married."

"Okay, then that's all I wanted to know… wait, what about all those times you said you were at your dad's cabin or out of town?" Esposito then realized.

"Lanie asked the same thing, we were with Castle, for Christmas, Memorial Day and the Fourth," Beckett replied, sitting straight.

"What about after you fainted?" Esposito then asked.

"Yeah, he was with us," Beckett replied. "That was more so you two would tell Gates that he was going to Atlantic City."

"Did he go with you then to have Julia get used to him?" Ryan asked.

"Sort of, we were already both thinking of him becoming her father, so…" Beckett replied. "I was with him in San Francisco," she said to them both.

"I knew," Ryan said. "So you helped him on that case?"

"Did you get caught on Alcatraz with him?" Esposito asked.

Beckett nodded and told them quickly about what had happened during the investigation, finishing with, "The mayor kept the fact that it was both of us who were almost killed at Alcatraz from the media. And after that we were able to enjoy the rest of the vacation luckily."

The car was quiet for a while before Ryan asked, "Could I tell Jenny? Or not yet?"

"You haven't told her?" Beckett said in surprise.

"Like I've been saying, it wasn't really my secret to tell," Ryan replied. "Though I think she has her suspicions, seeing how you two are together."

"Lanie and I weren't that sure," Esposito pointed out.

"That's because you wouldn't really notice, and Lanie took her at her word that she wasn't seeing anyone," Ryan said simply.

"I'd prefer you didn't tell her yet, but you are all going to be invited to the wedding… whenever it is," Beckett said quickly before Esposito could say anything.

"You don't have a… oh, the mayor," Ryan began to say before trailing off. "You think she'll throw Castle out?"

"If he's released I'm pretty sure it won't be that long in coming," Beckett said. "It's why we set a specific month."

"Would it help if we talked to her? About the closure rate we started getting once Castle joined us?" Esposito asked.

"It depends," Beckett replied, shaking her head. "We'll see, but thanks for offering," she told him as she tucked her necklace under her blouse then as they'd reached the Precinct parking. She was quiet, as they went up to the fourth floor, wondering what exactly Castle would think when she told him she'd finally let Lanie and Esposito know about them. She was about to walk towards her desk when Esposito grabbed her sleeve, pulling her to holding. "What are you-"

"Hey Bell, we need to talk to him," Esposito said to the officer at the entrance. "She'll be with me."

"Go ahead," the officer said with a nod.

"Ryan, go back and talk to the friends of the last three vics, ask them about the three and what they would do together as a group," Beckett said quickly as Bell got out of their way. "See if there was any kind of hint of a dinner party the other night."

"On it," Ryan replied before she went down the hall.

"You're not-" Castle started to say when his fiancée was close enough to hear.

"It's alright," Beckett said, standing at the corner with him again. "They know."

"They know, know what? You told them?" Castle asked when he realized what she was talking about. "Kate, you-"

"Esposito wasn't letting go of you as the killer," Beckett said simply. "I had to tell them, and Lanie." At his surprised look she said, "I took them to the morgue."

"And?" Castle asked, keeping his voice low.

"Ryan already knew," Beckett said simply. She reminded him about their first trip to the Hamptons and how the detective had talked to the vic's partner, who had told him that she had been Castle's girlfriend.

"Wow, I appreciate he kept that secret for us for so long," Castle commented. "But Lanie and Espo?"

"Lanie was… infuriated, and I can't blame her. But I talked to her, and while she's still mad at us for hiding it, she's relented enough to not speak to me like she's going to bite my head off," Beckett commented.

"Does she understand why we were doing that? Does he?" Castle asked, nodding down the hall to Esposito who was waiting at the entrance.

"He does," Beckett replied. "Ryan talked to him, and he's calmed down too, but mad I'm sure."

"Of course," Castle said with a nod. "So, they're okay with us?"

"Yeah, remember, she was trying to set us up. They were more concerned that I was happy and that Julia was alright with you too," Beckett said.

"Okay, so, they're coming to the wedding right?" Castle asked.

"I haven't asked them that outright, I think we should wait," Beckett said. "When things have calmed down. Has Gates talked to you?"

"She did, when she brought my lawyer to speak with me; while you were gone," Castle replied. "She's getting the charges ready in case you three can't prove I didn't kill anyone."

"We can delay it until six," Beckett said. "So we could delay you being transferred to the tombs. Espo will push for that."

"Are you sure? Or does he believe you're my alibi now?" Castle asked.

"I believe you bro," Esposito said. "Beckett, we gotta go, Ryan walked by and gave me a look, Gates is probably back."

"How's Julia?" Castle asked hurriedly.

"She misses you and wants you home, so do Alexis and Martha, and me," Beckett replied in the same rushed tone. She reached through the mesh so they could just barely brush each other's fingertips, and she then turned, following Esposito. "Sir," she said as Gates was at the entrance to the hall where holding was.

"Detective, Mr. Castle is not speaking to anyone right now, according to his attorney," the captain said. "I can't have you pressuring him and giving his lawyer a chance to get him out of here. The mayor is insistent that we not let him go."

Though she was incredibly tempted to do just that, Beckett shook her head and said, "I tried to speak with him, but I believe he's taking his lawyer's words to heart, he wouldn't say a word to me, only asked about his mother and daughter." She breathed out a little when Gates nodded once and went back to her office, looking at her partners saying, "We need to go back to looking over the case again."

"Does he have any enemies?" Esposito asked as soon as they were around Beckett's desk. "Someone who wants to put him in jail?"

"Not that he knows of," Beckett said. "It could be a crazed fan. But there's a problem with one thing, the postcards."

"Hold on," Ryan said as the phone on his desk started to ring. He jogged over to it, and speaking with the person on the other end frowned a little before saying, "Okay, thank you, bye."

"Was that tech at his publisher's office?" Beckett asked when he'd come back.

"Yeah, they're not able to tell at all if it was hacked. It could have, or not, they're not sure with the data they're getting," Ryan said.

"Now I know why you were checking his laptop right there at his place, there were pictures of you two on it weren't there?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah, but he had me learn a few things from a resource of his he used one of the Storm books, a former government hacker, I don't know his name, and he's living somewhere in the Caribbean, I think," Beckett said. "So I knew what to do to look at his documents to see if they had been hacked, and I wasn't lying, there was no evidence of it." She looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I'm starting to wonder now if it's possible someone from the office managed to get a hold of a copy of that manuscript."

"It's worth looking into, I'll go and see what I can find," Esposito said.

"At least we have something other than the costumes," Ryan said, watching Beckett as she was standing in front of the murder board.

"It's probably not going to be enough, at least not to Gates," Beckett said, frowning. "But then again she thinks what she has to charge him is enough. Were you able to call the friends?"

"Yeah, and they mentioned that they were going to have a costume dinner party, very small, with a new friend they'd met at a club; Night Shade; about a week ago on Saturday, they were there from about ten to one," Ryan said. When Beckett looked at him in surprise he explained, "They were in a group, but split up and only our three vics met this guy. Can you remember if you were with Castle then?"

"I was, so was Alexis and Julia, we went to see a play together, Julia still has the tickets as she has a little collection of them now," Beckett replied.

"Okay, so that answers that. I haven't been able to contact the club yet, Gates came in before I could do that, so do you want me to go ahead and try and get the footage from that night?" Ryan asked.

"That would be nice," Beckett said with a nod. She watched him go, her attention back on the board, sparse except for the number of victims to one side of it. She let her gaze drift over to Castle's picture, closing her eyes for a moment before she turned back to her desk, searching the first tailor that Martha had given to Castle.

* * *

Pausing as she opened the door to the loft late that night, Beckett saw that both Alexis and Martha were standing in front of her that time. "You've heard," she stated, turning back to them after she'd closed the door to give herself some time to anticipate what she was sure they'd ask.

"Of course we did, his lawyer called us," Martha replied.

"He told me not to tell you; Castle did," Beckett said, setting her bag on the top shelf of the closet. She went to the living room and sat on an armchair as the two sat on the couch. "I was able to speak to him briefly when I heard from Espo that we were charging him; that Gates was."

"So they don't think he's a killer now?" Alexis asked.

"I had to tell Ryan, Esposito and Lanie about us," Beckett murmured.

"They were angry?" Martha said.

Beckett quickly told them what had occurred, and when she'd finished said, "We've been working on the case all day, even after he was charged. Trying to find something, anything."

"And there's absolutely nothing?" Alexis inquired.

"A picture from a camera at a club," Beckett said. "Of a man, about his height, maybe an inch shorter; which matches the description of the man seen with two of those victims the night they were killed. But it's looking at him from behind, and it's not your dad. But Gates, the DA and the mayor are all set to believe it is him. Plus the fingerprint and his weak 'alibis' are enough for them to feel they have a case."

"Did Richard tell his lawyer that there is you?" Martha asked.

"He did, and he let us know that we were too late, because now the DA can easily tear that apart as me trying to make something up for my partner. And if we revealed our relationship, again, I'd just be seen as making it up for him," Beckett said before running her hands over her face. When she pulled them away she was a little started to see her palms slightly damp, and she shook her head saying, "I was going to look at his computer again, see if there's something I missed with his manuscript."

"Darling," Martha said, going to her after stopping in the kitchen. She handed a tissue to her son's fiancée and putting a hand on her shoulder as she wiped her cheeks dry said, "You'll find a way to exonerate him, I'm sure. And if you think it's his computer, then go, look and see what you can find, we're going to head upstairs."

"Actually, I need to see her, how was she?" Beckett asked, sitting down to take off her boots.

"She's incredibly sad," Alexis said. "And she's afraid he's not going to come back."

"She said that?" Beckett asked.

"No, but I can tell," Alexis replied. "We're trying to tell her that he'll come home, but I don't think she believes us."

Nodding, as she wasn't too surprised to hear that, Beckett went up the stairs then, hearing Martha and Alexis follow her. When she stepped into the latter's room though, they remained at the doorway and she was alone as she went to Julia, sleeping on her back on the bed. She tucked her daughter's Stitch doll into her arm, and kissed her on the forehead once, and then a second time before stroking her hair carefully, watching her closely. Finally, she forced herself to get up, though it was hard to leave the innocence of watching the little girl so peacefully asleep.

"Did they take him to jail yet?" Alexis asked in a whisper once Beckett was at the doorway.

"No, by the time the paperwork was finished, it was too late to transfer him," Beckett replied. "But at eight tomorrow, they're taking him, I need to be there."

"You don't think you need to get some rest?" Martha suggested carefully.

Shaking her head, Beckett said, "I won't be that long. Goodnight and thank you for watching her today."

"Goodnight," Alexis murmured, her grandmother echoing her. Turning to Martha once Beckett had disappeared she said, "Dad will be okay."

"He has to be, do you see how much Kate is running herself ragged on his behalf?" Martha replied. "Get some sleep Alexis, we'll need to take care of Julia again tomorrow I'm sure." After saying goodnight to her granddaughter, she went to the top of the stairs, listening to the office door close, and she frowned, going to her room afterward as she knew her son's fiancée had settled in for the night at his computer.

Opening the documents on the computer, Beckett ran the scan tool that Castle's contact had installed in it, that time taking off two search parameters. She sat back, sipping at the mug she'd brought in with her, rubbing her forehead as she waited for the program to finish. Groaning at the clean results, she then paused, and finally set everything on the program to search, and set his entire computer to be scanned, which she hadn't done the first time.

When she saw the amount of time it was expected to take to look through the laptop, Beckett stood up and looked at the books on the shelf, idly gazing at the titles. But she didn't think she'd really be able to read, and she decided to get what she had from the case in her workbag. Spreading it out on the table, there wasn't much, and she sighed at the difficulty they were having that time, when by then they would have already had the suspect arrested. Glancing at the laptop screen, she then was able to go through the case, from what they'd been able to reconstruct of the first vic's last steps since talking to her neighbor/friend, to the second crime scene being discovered. But as before, there was nothing new that she could see in what evidence she had.

Rubbing her face for a moment, to try and wake herself up, Beckett then decided to take a different route reviewing the case. She got the pad of paper inside her bag, and started to write out a timeline instead of trying to read it from the picture of the murder board on her phone. She had been looking at the timeline a number of times that day, so it was pretty well embedded in her mind and she could write through without trying to reference the picture. She frowned then when she saw that they didn't have much for their first vic, there having been little in the way of financials to discern if she'd gone anywhere besides a German food place near her apartment the night after the neighbor had last seen her.

Beckett then decided to take a break from the timeline and turned instead to the physical evidence. She wrote down on her pad _postcards- possible fan of Castle's_ before nearly scratching that out, since she had a hard time believing any of his fans that she knew would be able to get into his apartment without being seen by someone in the building. But she had to wonder if maybe they'd found out about their engagement, and had tried to separate them that way. As soon as she thought that though, she could almost hear her fiancé's voice in her head telling her that was unlikely, as they would have tried to frame her and not him. But she kept the possibility on the paper, not wanting to rule it out. She then thought about the last time someone had broken into the loft and she looked out into the living room.

The room was silent, and Beckett wondered why she was looking out, not sure if she was just trying to take a break or figure something out. A sudden thought came to her, and she rushed back to the desk, writing down _killer may have been following Castle when he bought cards. Someone who hates Castle also a stalker?_ That felt like a better theory, and she bit on her lower lip for a moment before sitting down and getting the pictures of the costumes out, she considered each one. They had gone through the list of tailors that could make historical costumes and had found nothing before running out of time with the charges being filed. She still felt there was something about the costumes and Castle that made them so important; something she'd told her fiancé and he'd agreed with. It was then she remembered when he'd joked about writing the Civil War comedy, and she picked up her pen, hesitated for a second before writing down _officers hearing Castle's knowledge of costumes after seeing cuff of shirt?_ She wrote down _LT_ next, but then quickly added _not a suspect as having no animosity toward Castle_.

It was then she finally had to write at the top of the page, in the space above the lines _possible officer or past officer framing Castle from 12th?_ She didn't want to consider it, but Beckett knew her fiancé would agree, as there was no one else who would be able to have known about Tyson framing him as that part of the case hadn't been released; for fear of a copycat. She sighed, knowing that would have been realized sooner if all suspicion hadn't gone straight to Castle. She then began to write down the other officers that she could remember had been there, noting down whether or not they were friends of her fiancé's or not. But as she was trying to remember the last two names, her head bowed down and she jerked awake. Groaning as she hadn't meant to fall asleep, she decided to wait until she read the report about the zombie murder at the station the next day to finish. She packed up her bag, but she then remembered the scan on Castle's laptop, and seeing the screen once her bag was set on an armchair; ready to go; she groaned in frustration, there was still a good deal of time to go before it had finished.

Sitting back down, Beckett went to his pictures, and smiled as she saw he had a file set aside for San Francisco. Looking at each photograph, she soon realized the images were swimming in front of her eyes, and it had nothing to do with tears, though it was heartbreaking to see how happy they'd all been only months ago. She finally gave up and closed the file, putting her arms on the top of the desk before she laid her head on them, and closed her eyes, promising herself only a few minutes for a nap before she waited for the scan to finish.

* * *

"Kate?"

Jerking awake, Beckett groaned as she blinked in the harsh light of day, and then realized why her neck was hurting since she had slept at Castle's desk. "How long have I been here?" she asked, looking at her father's watch.

"All night it looks like," Martha said, setting down a mug in front of her. "At least you were able to get some rest."

"Not very peaceful… or comfortable," Beckett said, rubbing her face with her hands. She looked at her watch again, and saw she had an hour and a half until Castle would be transferred.

"Did you have any luck?" Martha asked, watching her closely.

Beckett was quiet, and then slowly shook her head no as she turned to the laptop, seeing the scan was completely clear. "But I think I might have a way to find out how the killer got the manuscript," she said when she came to that realization. She then jumped up from the chair, and had to suddenly grab the edge of the desk. "I'm okay," she said quickly to her fiancé's mother who hurried to help steady her. "It's fatigue again," she explained, shaking her head to get rid of the abrupt dizziness that hit her. "I haven't been able to sleep that well for a while now, the last case we had was brutal too."

"Plus the election," Martha said knowingly.

"That too," Beckett sighed. "Having to wait every day for the summons from the mayor… or just her telling him to get the hell out of the station has been a stress too."

"Why don't you take a nap in bed," Martha suggested. "Just twenty minutes, you'll feel a lot better."

"I can't, I need to-" Beckett replied before her phone rang. "It's Ryan," she said. "Hey, what's wrong? You… there was?"

At that Martha turned to her, surprised at the shock that turned quickly to joy in her voice and she waited a little impatiently until Beckett had hung up before saying, "Good news?"

"To a degree," Beckett said. "Well, for us it is. There was another murder, the killer called the station, well, they called and left the phone unhooked for dispatch to trace, and the officers found a woman who was killed."

"And Richard?" Martha asked hopefully.

"They've been keeping a close watch on him, and I didn't realize this, but they overheard his conversation with his lawyer, and he never tried to set anything up, he couldn't because he's been in holding with nothing to use to do so," Beckett said. "So I have to go and sign the papers, and get him out."

"Will he still investigate with you?" Martha asked as Beckett went to the door to her son's room.

"He'll probably want to, but we'll be home as soon as we can, I think Ryan and Espo would understand if I need to leave a little earlier," Beckett said. "At least I hope they will," she added under her breath before she rushed into the room.

"Martha?" a small voice said from the doorway to the office.

"Darling, you should still be asleep," Martha said, unable to help smile at Julia.

"Are… is Castle kay?" the girl asked, a little taken aback by the smile on the woman's face.

"He's going to come home today, your mother is going to get ready to go now," Martha said.

"So that means that Mommy still has to work, is he gonna stay with her?" Julia asked.

"He will, but they'll be home later to see us. Now, is Alexis up? I think to celebrate we should do something fun, and since I have no classes today, I can join you two in whatever you decide," Martha said, ushering her out the door.

While Alexis was joining her sister and grandmother in the kitchen for breakfast, Beckett was looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, seeing she looked a lot better than she had the last couple days. After setting down her hair brush, she suddenly had the thought that after a day with no murder, the killer had decided to exonerate Castle, when he'd seemed to want to put him in jail. The thought bothered her, and she had no idea why exactly he'd done that. But she finally shook herself and stopped in the office before she went out into the living room, surprised to see the three eating at the table and looking very happy. "So you told them?" she asked, unable to help smiling.

"It's such wonderful news, it needed to be shared," Martha said.

"We should have a special dinner," Julia suddenly said. "Are you gonna come back for it?"

"Yes, I don't care if Gates gets angry with me, but I will come back early today," Beckett said.

"Invite Grandpapa to come and eat with us and we can get all of Castle's foods he likes," Julia said eagerly. "And then play games he wants to after."

"He might want to rest," Alexis said gently as they were all smiling at the little girl. "But we should definitely have the dinner."

"She's right, invite your father Beckett and we will go to Richard's favorite restaurant and pick out his favorites before getting his favorite dessert," Martha said.

"Okay, I'm going now," Beckett said, looking at her watch. "I'll tell him you all love him if he doesn't want to come home yet."

"Do you have clothes for him?" Martha asked.

"They're in my bag," Beckett said, lifting it up. "What will you do today?"

"We're gonna go to Grandpapa's pool and swim 'cause we didn't yesterday. Can we go there on Saturday?" Julia asked.

"We're going to Coney Island sweetie," Beckett said, going to her and hugging her tightly. "Hmm, you're happy?"

"A lot, a lot," Julia said, nodding. "Now I can give him my picture I made for him!" she cried.

"Before dinner," Beckett said, sharing a kiss with her. "I'll tell him to call when he gets the chance," she said to Martha and Alexis.

"Go, get him out of there," the young woman said with a smile. After they'd all said goodbye to her, she turned to her grandmother and murmured, "She doesn't look so bad now."

"Oh, it understandable, what she's going through," Martha said with a small smile. "Now, who would like more waffles girls?"

* * *

Walking into the station, Beckett saw that Ryan was at her desk and asked, "Esposito?"

"At the crime scene, I told him we'd join him after we got Castle out," he replied. "And he's talked with Gates who is talking to the mayor now; and your fiancé talked with Gates I mean," he said, keeping his voice low though they were alone. "And demanded her to let him back on the case, almost threatening to sue the NYPD for false imprisonment if she didn't."

"He knows he holds the cards," Beckett said with a nod. She saw Officer Styles from the night shift approaching them with some papers and said, "And did you manage to get another angle from the camera at the club?"

"Not yet, still early, but they'll send it as soon as they fix their computer they're keeping it on," Ryan promised, watching as Beckett signed the release papers he and Esposito had already signed. "Go ahead," he said when she glanced at him.

Walking into holding, Beckett nodded to Styles who had followed her to open the door, and she said to her fiancé, "You're free to go."

"Right," Castle commented, stepping out and breathing a sigh of relief. "Do you have clothes-"

"They're in my bag, Gates went to the mayor's office, so hurry and get them," Beckett said, really wishing she could hug him as they walked back to the bull pen but holding back. She handed him the small pile of clothes and then said to Ryan, "Go ahead, we'll follow."

"Yeah, texted you the address," he replied. "Tell him we're both glad to see him out."

Nodding, Beckett went over to the restroom, waiting for her fiancé to step out. She couldn't help smile slightly at how different he looked saying, "I think the expression on your face is the same one on mine."

"Most likely," Castle said. "But for now, crime scene?"

After getting down to parking, Beckett told him, "They love you and miss you but are incredibly happy."

"I thought they would be, is Julia okay now?" Castle asked her.

"She is, but she does want to see you," Beckett said, reaching out and squeezing his hand momentarily before they got into her car. On the drive over to the address, she quickly told Castle what little they'd been able to discover, and when she finished she noticed that he was very quiet, not even having said a word as she'd spoken. "Okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I had a lot of time to think about these murders," Castle said. "And I know at first you and I were thinking this maybe could be someone targeting me, but then I came to the realization that it's not just that they were trying to send me to jail. They're trying to get your attention."

Looking at him for a moment, Beckett then said, "I was starting to think that myself, but I was hoping it was me getting some of your narcissism for a second."

"It makes the most sense, you were pretty adamant about my innocence, so what if the killer discovered that and decided since he couldn't make you break off things with me he killed again, just to get me out of jail?" Castle asked.

"I've thought of that, but what bothers me is why not just keep you where you were? Let you go to the tombs?" Beckett countered.

"Because it didn't serve his main purpose, which was getting you to believe me a murderer, to want to end things with me," Castle said. "He wants you Kate, and to him, I was an obstacle. Now that he knows you're not going to immediately go to him over me, we need to be careful."

"We have no proof of that Castle," Beckett said, looking at him as she parked against the curb outside the building. "But I'll keep that in mind. Now though, let's hope this has shaken him enough to make a mistake." She kept quiet until they were in the elevator going up the seventh floor, saying, "Do you think it could be a cop?"

"Or a detective, retired or still with the Precinct, but I'm thinking more they're retired," Castle said, nodding.

"I can't really go ahead and start looking into everyone at the station, but, we have that other camera from the club," Beckett said. "At least, I hope we do; but if we can see him from the side at the very least, we would have an easier time identifying him."

Nodding, Castle followed her into the hall, to where LT was standing guard at the door to one of the apartments. "Thanks," he said when the officer welcomed him back.

"Welcome back bro," Esposito said as Castle and Beckett entered the bedroom where he was with Laine and CSU.

"Lanie," Castle said carefully, looking at Beckett who shrugged.

"You know Castle, your tone of voice tells me that if I were to pretend to lunge at you you'd run off screaming like a girl," the doctor said, looking at the body which was positioned like the Degas painting, a huge bouquet of flowers next to her. "You're lucky I'm not mad enough now I've thought things over to do that. I'll ask you one thing though."

"Anything," Castle said quickly, wondering what that would be.

"Take care of my girl and niece," Lanie said. "Okay Beckett," she said, shaking her head as he nodded his head rapidly in response to her request. "So your time of death is between eight and ten, and arsenic again, though he messed up."

"How so?" Beckett asked, getting rid of the small smile on her face at their exchange.

"She didn't drink enough, for some reason he gave her a smaller dosage. "And then he fought with her," Lanie explained, stepping out of the way for them to see the state of the vic's face.

"A fight?" Castle asked quickly.

"One she had no hope of winning, he punched her face, tried to strangle her, numerous contusions," Lanie replied pointing them out. "As if he was trying to work his frustrations out on her. I would imagine he dosed up her glass again, and then forced it down her throat as she was trying to recover."

"Okay and we know now what painting he picked," Beckett said, looking at her fiancé.

"Yeah," Castle said hurriedly. "This was one I was going to have last, in my mind I saw this as a killer making it Heat, or making the victim look like her."

"Is that why he picked our first two vics? Maybe he's thinking you two are Rook and Heat," Esposito suggested.

"No, it was a warning, to him," Beckett said.

"Sounds like you two have a motive," Lanie said, looking back at them.

"He wants Beckett, so he tried to get her to break up with me by making me a killer," Castle said.

"And when that backfired, he proved him innocent," Beckett said.

"Does that help us find him?" Ryan asked from behind the others. When they turned to him he said, "Just talked to her landlord, our vic is Tracey De Laurent, and she moved in about three days ago."

"That's a short amount of time to look into the building," Beckett said. "Can you two look over the floor, see if there's anyone suspicious."

"Yeah, we just got the footage," Ryan said suddenly as his phone had rung with a text then. "Do you want-"

"We'll look at it, and one thing, I think you can discard the costumes," Castle said.

"I thought maybe whoever it was there with us at the crime scene of that zombie murder heard your interest in costumes; was using that against you," Beckett told him.

"I don't think so," Castle said, shaking his head. "Have you found anything at all pointing to a tailor?"

"Not really, and believe me when I say we looked," Ryan said.

"All over," Esposito said. "We left messages when we had to and they all called back, saying they've never made jewel encrusted cuffs before."

"Alright, we've checked on their backgrounds, so I guess we can stop looking into that," Beckett said. "So we'll look at the footage, and we also need to call your publisher because-"

"Someone he could have recently hired could have taken the manuscript," Castle finished for her.

"Glad to see you guys back," Lanie said.

Beckett only smiled slightly at that and then left with Castle, after a few words to Rizzio who was talking to a neighbor outside, trying to get her to go back inside her apartment. When they were back at the station they went straight into the room to start up the footage, going to the time they had from the picture. "Do you want to call him?" she asked her fiancé.

"Sure," Castle said, getting his phone quickly. Since he had his publisher on his contacts, it took little time to reach the man and he was saying, "Jay, hey, yeah, I'm out, they finally realized I was innocent. No, I need to talk to you about that manuscript… yeah, I am sorry about that, but it's pretty important. So Jay, could you tell me if you've hired anyone in the past…" He paused, looking at his fiancée to see her mouth the word seven. "In the past seven months?" he asked. "Oh, only one, an aide to you… sure, Detective Beckett could really use that information. Great, thank you. Bye. He's sending everything he has on his aide, Collis Gould," he told his fiancée when he'd hung up.

"It's a reach, but more than likely he's the one," Beckett commented absently, watching the screen. She paused it then, and looking at the picture she'd brought in with her, shook her head, seeing it was another man, shorter than their possible suspect though it was close to the time the man was supposed to be in that same spot.

"So Lanie didn't kill us," Castle said.

"I'm hoping it's because she could see something of our relationship while we were there," Beckett said. "Are you surprised she asked you to do that?"

"Not really," Castle replied with a smile on his face. He saw the suspect on the screen, and said, "There he is."

"Damn it," Beckett said as she saw the man's head was turned enough to prevent them from seeing who he was. "Maybe-"

"Detective? This got sent over from his publisher," Reynolds said, nodding hard to his left; towards Castle.

"Great to see you," Castle called out as the officer left after handing Beckett the file he'd brought.

"Can you take this," she told him, handing him the remote. "Pause when you see him turn."

"Hey, canvassing the seventh floor was a bust, but we got a list of names, so we'll be able to search them, see if anyone…" Ryan said as he and Esposito entered the room.

"What?" Beckett asked, looking up from the picture of the assistant. She saw Castle looking concerned, and then turned to follow his gaze to the screen, suddenly dropping everything in her hands. She took off at a run for the elevator, reaching it just as the doors closed. "He's going downstairs!" she yelled to her partners. She ran to the stairs, going to the lobby just as she could see him running into a waiting car, Reynolds blowing a kiss to her the last she saw of the man as her fiancé caught up with her at the top of the steps to the sidewalk.


	7. Every Night You Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Every Breath You Take written by Sting and performed by The Police, from their album Synchronicity.

"Reynolds? Reynolds is our suspect," Gates said incredulously, looking at the four in her office.

"It looks that way," Esposito said. "Officer Reynolds-"

"That would be plain Mr. Reynolds after this morning," Gates said, looking through a pile of papers. "I have his resignation right here; it'll be in effect immediately once I place a call in to the Commissioner."

"Well, Reynolds was the aide that Castle's publisher, Mr. Zweig recently hired," Esposito continued. "He had fake facial hair, as you can see in this photograph he had in the man's file, but it's him."

"Is there any way to find him?" Gates asked.

"We've been spending this time trying to do so sir, but were unable to really get much of a lead on him," Ryan said.

"You saw the car that he got into," Gates said to Beckett who was sitting on the couch with Castle.

"Yes, I would have made note of a license plate, but there was none, a paper for a dealership, the text too small to see," she replied. "But I made the model of it, a black 2010 Charger."

"Our cars," Gates said in annoyance. "It would make sense, since he seems to be trying to tarnish the Precinct's name. Have you looked into Reynolds? Talked to his partner here?"

"Officer Kessler was stunned sir," Esposito answered. "She had no idea that he was like that, but…" he started to say, looking back at Castle and Beckett.

"We have the feeling that the killer; whether or not it's Reynolds; is obsessed with me," Beckett took up then. "And it's more than likely something made him snap and frame Castle in an attempt to have me free of a partner."

"To leave him open to become that if he ever decided to become a detective," Castle added.

"Alright," Gates said. "What about Rizzio and Thomas? They're friends with him."

"They haven't really talked much to him for the past month," Beckett said. "I spoke with them both, and they said that they were worried about him, but more in the sense that he was drinking heavily when he'd been a lightweight beforehand."

"And he would find a way to break into my loft," Castle commented. "To steal those postcards."

"And you said you had four?" Gates asked.

"We're all in agreement sir that it's unlikely there will be another murder," Beckett said. "This last one was only done because I didn't believe with everyone else that Castle was a killer. He may try to flee the city now; we put in an APB and also contacted all the airports, bus stations and notified train stations as well."

"Then he'll be caught," Gates said. "Have you put surveillance on his home, his parents, his sisters?"

"For all of those sir, but according to his family, he cut things off with them when he first started at the Academy, we're not sure why though," Beckett explained.

"But they're cooperating, and all of them have alibis, no one has any experience with Chemistry like Reynolds does," Esposito said.

"I'd heard he'd gotten a BA in that," Gates said, nodding. "Alright, I'll speak with the mayor and let her know we possibly have our killer. But she'll want to know you're going to find him."

"We will sir," Ryan said. "And sir? According to Rizzio and Thomas, when Reynolds was younger, before college, he used to help his sisters make costumes to play in."

"Then he could have made the costumes in all three murders," Gates said. When Ryan nodded she said, "Look into his financials, find where he got fabric and anything else to tie him to the specific fabrics used in each one. Talk to any other friends and find out if he has somewhere else to go."

"I already did that," Beckett spoke up, standing with Castle. "They're unaware where he might go now."

"Then we might have to strengthen that APB, but I'll need to discuss this with the mayor, she will not want unmitigated panic in her city," Gates said. "Mr. Castle, I believe you've helped enough for today, Mayor Wilkins is not going to appreciate learning you're still here."

Not saying a word, Castle left the office, and stood by Beckett's desk saying, "She knows what to say to get me out," as Beckett walked out to him. "I should go though, she does seem pretty angry."

"I'm coming with you," Beckett whispered to him. She couldn't help smile a little at his surprise that quickly turned into a smile of his own, and then turned to see that Ryan and Esposito hadn't followed, they were instead speaking to the captain. "Guys?" she asked as they came out to them.

"She ordered a detail on you," Ryan said. "Where will you be tonight?"

Biting her lower lip as she realized the dilemma she was in; wanting to go home with her fiancé; Beckett started to speak when Esposito beat her to it.

"They know," he told her.

"Do they all know?" Castle asked, looking at the others around them.

"They do, I swear we didn't tell them," Ryan said when Beckett looked at him and his partner. "Thomas heard Lanie asking him to take care of you, he realized what that meant and told Reynolds when he got back here to the station after he left the crime scene right after you two… not knowing then that Reynolds was our suspect of course."

"That was his last gift, I'm surprised he didn't try to tell Gates," Esposito commented.

"Well, if no one has told her yet, I think we'll be safe," Castle said, looking to his fiancée to see her reaction.

"If we don't forget that we're just partners here at the station," Beckett said. "Go, I'll be at your place as soon as I get clothes for us and Julia."

"We'll send the detail to his place," Ryan said as Castle left then.

"So are you living with him?" Esposito asked.

"I… pretty much," Beckett replied, hesitating before nodding and shrugging at the same time. "And it's us, remember Julia."

"Where is she staying when she's over there?" Ryan said.

"She shares Alexis' bed," Beckett replied. "But, we didn't have a chance to tell you, but we decided we're going to move after we get married since the loft is a little crowded now."

"Where?" Esposito asked in surprise, looking at Ryan.

"Riverside West," Beckett said, a little hesitant about that.

"Pretty high end, Jenny wanted to try and see if we could get something cheap at their neighbor, Hudson Bay Manhattan, but it was nowhere near it," Ryan said. "Well, we'll have to have a dinner with you and Castle, and Jenny and Lanie of course," he told her as she was packing her bag, the two men blocking her from Gates' view. "That way you can fill us in on anything else."

"After this case," Beckett said. "If you need my help-"

"We'll tell Gates you were feeling fatigued again," Esposito interrupted her. "Which is believable, you don't look that good."

"I've been under a lot of stress," Beckett confessed. "But I'll be alright now, just so long as we get Reynolds and we pin him for the murders. I'll owe you guys," she told them finally, walking to the elevator. As the doors closed in front of her, she heard the captain calling her name, but she stood to the side, so Gates didn't see where she was before the car started down. As she stepped outside from the lobby, she felt her phone ring from a text, and saw it was from Ryan saying, _Gates agreed you look fatigued, will have to be back tomorrow, bring fiancé to help_. She shook her head with a smile at how many times he'd used that word instead of saying Castle's name, guessing he was trying to make sure she was aware that he approved of the engagement.

"Did they send a dirty joke?" a voice said in front of her. "What, you didn't think I'd wait?" Castle asked her.

"Not really, I have to go back to my place," Beckett reminded him, getting into the back of the cab that he'd held for them. "And it might take me a while to pack."

"You can't fit that much into your overnight bags," Castle commented once the partition was closed and they were on their way. "So what was the joke?"

Beckett shook her head and showed him her phone, letting him see what Ryan had sent. "So I'm thinking he's okay with us," she told him.

"I would think so, after not objecting to the relationship in the first place, he's got to be okay with us getting married," Castle said quickly. He then sighed and said, "We were a little stupid about that weren't we?"

"Not really stupid, just afraid, and a little bit adolescent, but remember I told you I'd never done that before with a relationship, so I guess you need to grow in the finesse of hiding," Beckett commented thoughtfully. "But no more hiding with them, with Gates, we don't stop until we know where you stand with the mayor."

Castle was going to comment about that when he saw he got a text and he quickly grabbed his phone, reading it. "It's from Jay," he told his fiancée, knowing she was watching him. "He needs me to go in tomorrow morning; we have to talk about _Hamptons Heat_ … should I go?"

"You've been way past due on a book love," Beckett said as the cab stopped. She smiled when Castle glanced at her for her use of the endearment, and she got out as he talked to the cabbie to get him to wait. "He probably wants to talk about that."

"No, he wants to start yelling at me, well," Castle said as they went inside. "I guess he can't do that right now, I was almost placed in jail after all."

"Of course," Beckett said. Inside the elevator she told him, "But seriously, what's going on with your book exactly?"

"Nothing, just fine tuning it, this one's going to be a good one," Castle said, not looking at her. "I'll go tomorrow; I just hope it's okay if I join you guys later."

"That'll be fine," Beckett replied, talking a little slowly as she watched him. A little concerned as to why he wasn't talking to her about his books; which he'd done in far more detail once they'd become a couple; she knew he wasn't going to say much else, so she led him to her apartment and said, "I'm pretty amazed it's only been…" before trailing off, looking to her fiancé with wide eyes as his hand pulled her blouse out of her jeans to slid against the skin of her side.

"Hurry," Castle whispered intensely, not surprised to see her expression soon match what he knew his own had to look like. He went to the kitchen and got himself a glass of water, needing the distraction as he kept his eyes on the clear liquid, not wanting to lose control of himself until they were home, needing to be there even if their family wasn't back yet after his text to his daughter. He took another sip, and rubbed his face with his hand, hearing the opening and closing of drawers and her armoire in her room, his fiancée's hurried steps audible to him as she was walking back and forth hurriedly. He groaned slightly at the sudden remembrance of the feeling of her skin under his palm, and he turned, going to Julia's room abruptly to help Beckett get them back to his loft faster.

* * *

Watching as he set the two bags on the table next to the door, Beckett checked her phone before tucking it into her pocket. "Anything else?" she asked, looking at Castle as he came over to her, checking to make sure the door was locked.

"Not really, the protection detail is here, so I think we're okay," he replied, nodding to the windows. "Wait, one thing," he said, looking down at her chest.

Following his gaze, Beckett smiled when she realized what he was looking at, and she hurriedly took off her necklace, getting her ring. She watched as he took her left hand, sliding the ring onto it, and she said, "Now we're set?"

"I think that's the last thing," Castle told her before kissing her fingertips slowly.

"Good," was all that Beckett was able to say before her fiancé was gathering her up in his arms. She hugged him back as tightly as she could, kissing him as deeply as she could, not surprised when he was responding to her. She could feel her heart pounding heavily as he pulled away from her, kissing at her neck and down to what was exposed by her blouse. She had to almost force herself to let go of him, but was able to do so, relieved when he followed her to his room. She let him lock the doors behind them, and she glanced over at the one to his office to see it was closed and locked before he was sliding his hand around her waist. "Did I really leave in the middle of a case for this?" she asked him as he carefully took her hair out from the ponytail it was in.

"I think you need to, you do not look that well," Castle said in concern as he was gentle in running his fingers through her hair.

"I slept out there," Beckett said.

"My couch?" Castle asked.

"No, your desk, and it wasn't that comfortable," Beckett replied. "I was checking your laptop."

"Thank you," Castle said before he was kissing her deeply. "For trying so hard to get me out."

Smiling, Beckett took a moment to kiss him back before whispering to him, "I told you I'd get you out if the need to arose."  
"You did," Castle said, remembering that conversation he'd been having with Esposito when she'd said that. He kissed her again and then said, "Maybe we should get some sleep."

"Uh-uh," Beckett said quickly as she began to unbutton his shirt. "After," and with that she kissed him harder than before, feeling his muffled grunt of surprise against her lips before he held her against him, responding feverishly. She felt his hands slip under her blouse she'd changed into at her place, and she hurriedly raised her arms for him, though they needed to part for him to get it off of her. She bit her lower lip roughly as he was careful with her bra, feeling her body beginning to heat up as his skin brushed hers. His fingers were a little rough in texture against her flesh, but he was caressing her, and it made them feel a little softer as he went to her jeans.

Castle was a little surprised when Beckett stopped his hands after they'd opened her fly, and he was quick to help her as soon as she finished the last button she'd left off on before they got his shirt off. He kissed her then as she was opening the fly of his jeans and he had to kick off his shoes since she seemed to become a little more desperate, her hands moving in rough jerks as she tried to pull the last of his clothes down. "You-" he started to say to her before she kissed him. When they parted from that he was naked, and he made her sit on the edge of the bed, taking care of her shoes then as she watched. "I dreamed about you, when I could sleep," he told her, looking up at her.

"Not…" Beckett said before she trailed off, knowing what kind of dreams he was talking about from the way he glanced at her. "And in the morning?"

"Meditation kind of helps," Castle said, standing up as she did. The last of her clothes discarded, he laid her down on the bed in the middle, not even bothering to pull down the covers. He went to her, his entire body seeming to be screaming to him to go as she was better than his dream. He kissed her, gently, and then said, "But I wanted you, not that dream."

"I know, please Rick, fuck me," Beckett begged him. "We can take things slower later, just… for now don't hold back."

Shuddering imperceptibly, Castle kissed her again as she spread her legs almost the second before he touched her thigh. He knew she wasn't kidding about not holding back as she raised her left leg to place the ankle on his shoulder. He reached down in between them, and wasn't that taken aback to find her hand there, waiting for him. Taking her fingers with his, they managed to get him to slide inside of her slowly, and he groaned at how wet she was, wondering when that had started. "Kate-" he began when they needed to breathe and they were coupled together fully.

"I know, just… please," Beckett said, ending in a moan when he began to thrust. She wasn't all that shocked when he started out slowly, feeling in the next one that he was slightly harder. She felt like she hadn't been with him in weeks, not the nearly five days it had been. Luckily, she felt no qualms about knowing the number, and she began to move with him after the third thrust he made. She held him tightly as she put her right foot flat on the bed next to his hip, wanting that leverage as he was steadily going faster. She made him turn his head then, and kissed him hard, shifting back a little and able to change the angle of how he entered her with that slight change. She moaned into his mouth, as the friction was building, a burning that centered on where they were together intimately. She had to turn her head then, needing air desperately, but he was kissing her still, lips trailing over her jaw and back to her ear.

Kissing directly underneath, Castle then moved up to her lobe, nibbling on it momentarily before turning his head to press his forehead against hers. He was able to take her lips in another kiss then, and was slow before she tried to make things a little more intense. He didn't really let her, only when she clutched at his cheek with her hand almost did he relent, and pressed harder against her lips before sliding his tongue inside her mouth. There wasn't much time between that and her tongue coming up to meet him, and they were suddenly dueling roughly, heads tilting back and forth as they seemed to be fighting for dominance, but only halfheartedly. He could feel, in the way she was moving her body against his and how she held him, that it was more about them trying to feel one another. After their separation; though it was short; he couldn't blame either one of them for feeling that way. He was a little distracted from his thoughts when she pulled away and whispered to him. He froze a little and looked down at her, seeing she was serious. So he reluctantly pulled away from her after she moved her leg down from his shoulder.

Beckett could feel her cheeks were a little warm, not really sure what had possessed her to ask him to do that. But he was then beginning to kiss his way down her body, and the quick jolt that snapped through her entirely from his touch was enough to make her forget her questioning herself. His lips went over both her breasts, and then down her abdomen, reaching the junction of her legs. When he brushed against her clit her fingers tightened their hold on the comforter under her, and she forced herself to raise her head, watching as his head began to move in an up and down motion. At the same time, she could feel his tongue, making her breathe out hard at the sensation before she felt his fingers touching her carefully at first.

Castle was reminded only a short time later of why they had never done something like that before, as he could feel from the way she moved, the sounds she was making, that she was close. He moved up to Beckett then, sliding into his fiancée so easily his groan sounded deafening to his ears. But then he was feeling her around him, incredibly wet, tight around him, moving hard as he couldn't take much time to wait for them to get used to being together again. He kissed her a little wildly as his thrusts seemed to be the same, finally going down to her breasts, kissing them as well. He wasn't too shocked when she had to grab him by the back of the head a little roughly to make him stop, and calmed down slightly as he went to her right breast, nuzzling the nipple with his lips. He shuddered hard, once, at his fiancée's cry of pleasure in response to his suckling mouth, but then concentrated on getting her right leg wrapped around him for a distraction. She'd propped her left ankle on his shoulder, and he was getting inside of her deeply, feeling her and hissing in the pure heat they seemed to be radiating to each other, because of each other.

Her nails gently raking over Castle's hair, Beckett watched him go over both her breasts, making her sex throb even harder than it already was, allowing her to feel him even more as he moved against her. She finally let him wrap her other leg around his waist, but as soon as he'd let go of her, he was suddenly taking her other leg, making her wrap it around his waist too. "Castle-" she started to say in slight protest.

Shaking his head, Castle went to her lips and murmured against them, "I want to be as close to you as I can love." He breathed out a little roughly and then shook his head a second time saying, "You're… I'm too close."

Knowing that he was thinking what he'd said first was too sappy, Beckett kissed him and then said, "I know, I can feel you," a smile appearing like a flash on her face. "Slow down."

"What?" Castle asked, pulling away to look at her. He was startled when she suddenly grabbed his hips, and made him go slower. He grunted as her touch and her controlling him was pretty arousing, and she had to fight with him a little to get him to that slower pace. "Kate…" he said, taking over for himself then. He moved his hips in a sweeping motion up, and felt everything around him tighten before he was kissing her again. When they'd parted, he whispered into her ear, "Come for me love, I want you to feel what you do to me."

The husky timbre of his voice and the rough single thrust he gave her then was enough to set Beckett off, her mind spinning a little at the sharp ecstasy that suddenly made her lose control. She wasn't surprised when Castle was quick to follow her rougher pace, and they were fucking each other in the end as she cried out his name once, hers on his lips before they were literally clinging to one another as best they could in the position they were in. Her orgasm felt more powerful, but she knew it was because of the time since the last one he'd made her have. She knew some time passed before she was slowing down, but her fiancé was a little rough with her still, and she wasn't too surprised when he gave a last shudder and then slumped down on her. "Rick?" she asked, a little concerned he'd passed out.

"Sorry," Castle replied, his voice muffled by her shoulder. He got off of her and after he'd kissed her thoroughly said, "Now we sleep."

"What about Julia-" Beckett started to ask as he got off the bed and she watched him toss the comforter off to the floor.

"Alexis texted me when we were at your place," Castle said. "They're going to stay longer and swim more; Julia's having a great time."

Smiling as she lay back on the crisp, cool mattress, Beckett said, "Did they tell her you're back?"

"They want to surprise her," Castle said as he lay down with her. Once they were settled, he heard his fiancée breathe out a little loudly, and he was about to ask her what they should do when their family came back, when he realized she had relaxed in his arms. Raising his head a little; since they were on their sides; he saw she had fallen asleep, though it didn't really shock him. Lying back after pressing a kiss to the back of her head, he closed his eyes and found himself trying to fight the exhaustion in him for a moment. But he finally let go of that hesitation to sleep, since he needed the rest as badly as Beckett did, and he felt himself approaching that line between consciousness and sleep. It was then his eyes opened for a brief moment, and in his state he thought he saw a dark figure in the shadows by the door, watching them. A second later he was asleep, suddenly jerking awake after what felt like a second, but in actuality had been an hour.

"Castle?" Beckett asked, his sudden movement waking her up immediately. She sat up with him, looking over at the door as he was doing. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"I… I could have sworn there was someone right there," Castle said, getting off the bed in a rush and opening the door.

"Wait, you're-" Beckett started to say as he was still very much naked. She was cut off when he came back inside and locked the door behind him. "Are they here?"

"No, whoever it was must have snuck out, Reynolds was-" Castle started to say.

"Castle, the building is under surveillance," Beckett said. She reached over to her phone and texted Esposito to talk to the two officers watching. Getting a responding message shortly after she read to her fiancé who was sitting on the edge of the bed next to her, " _Thomas and Rizzio confirm area clear since you got back, no one suspicious going in or out_."

"I swear I saw him, it had to be Reynolds," Castle said, rubbing his face.

"I think it was just exhaustion love," Beckett said, watching him and seeing he looked genuinely shaken. She pulled on his arm until he lay back with her, and she made him press his cheek to her shoulder. "And the stress of the last couple of days, it had to be a dream."

"Maybe," Castle sighed. "Feel any better."

"A lot, but we should get to bed early tonight, and try to catch up," Beckett said. She heard his phone ring then with a text and she laughed softly as he hurried to dig it out of his pants pocket since they were still on the floor. "They're coming back?"

"Your dad's giving them a snack and he'll be joining us for dinner tonight," Castle said. "Did you tell him what was going on?" he asked his fiancée after quickly answering the text. He set his phone down next to hers and got on the bed, making her lay back down before he kissed her, pressing her back into her pillow as they were again dueling in his mouth before sliding back into hers.

"I had to, it was on the news that you were a suspect; I'm assuming Reynolds was the leak," Beckett said, rolling her eyes. "He didn't think you were a killer; he knows I'd be able to suss that out pretty quickly if it was true."

"You had an e-mail from Skye recently didn't you?" Castle asked, grinning slightly at her.

"Maybe. But no, he never thought you were a killer," Beckett said. "But we should get dressed," she pointed out to him. She smiled as he kissed her gently, both of them ending up lingering for a while, before they parted and she went to get clothes when she paused.

"Oh, your bag, let me go," Castle said, looking at her when she stopped moving abruptly.

"Is it the thrill of walking around with no clothes that's making you do that?" Beckett asked teasingly as she took her bag from him and opened it on top of his dresser. She sucked in a breath of air as he wrapped his arm around her, his hand sliding along her abdomen slowly until she was pulled back against him. "We need to get dressed, badly," she told him, looking back at him. She had to smile at his frustrated sigh but turned around, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him down enough so they could kiss. She initiated it, so they could be a little rougher and let it last until she needed to breathe, her lips throbbing a touch in response to it. She brushed her lips across his, and was relieved when he let her go since she wasn't sure she'd be able to resist him if he initiated anything else.

As she was finishing buttoning her loose, green blouse, Beckett ran her fingers through her slightly mussed hair, when her eye caught on her ring and she stopped, holding that hand in front of her.

"What is it?" Castle asked, coming from the bathroom where he'd combed his hair. "Not any second doubts I hope."

"Stop thinking I'll change my mind," Beckett said, rolling her eyes. "No, we need to do something, before they get back," she told him, taking him out into the living room where they sat on the couch. "I want us to do something we should have done a long time ago Rick; we need to pick a date."

"You want to do that now?" Castle asked, a little surprised but very quickly eager as he knew she was serious.

"Unless you want to wait some more?" Beckett teased him.

"No, now is good, we're only a little over a week until August," Castle said. "But what if we still don't know where our partnership is the day we pick?"

"We'll know," Beckett said. "With everything that's happened lately, the mayor will let us know where you'll stand concerning helping the NYPD. So, do you have any dates you'd like to have? Maybe the same date as Alexis' birthday?"

"Her birthday's the thirtieth," Castle commented. "So that would be a little late, unless you want to wait that long."

"Not really," Beckett said, thinking. "Your mom?"

"Twenty-sixth, when's your dad's birthday?" Castle asked.

"January thirtieth, so I think we're going to have to pick another number, because the fifth is too soon," Beckett said. "Unless…"

"The seventeenth?" both she and Castle said together.

"Could we?" he asked her as she got her phone.

"I think so, it's only three weeks from this coming Sunday," Beckett said. "I wonder if that's enough time for Skye and May to be able to get out here."

"We're still having a small wedding right?" Castle asked. When she nodded he said, "Then planning won't be too difficult, we have everyone we want to invite, so we know all the numbers. We'll get, what, five tables, six tables plus where we'll sit with our family. We might need to get started on the flowers and everything now. But I can easily call the judge right now; see if she's available to do it that day. And honestly, I like the seventeenth."

"I know, Julia's been a big part of our lives, and part of the reason why I want to get to the wedding; mainly to marry you of course," Beckett said with a smile. "But also so we can give our daughter a family she doesn't have to hide anymore."

"Okay, so I'll call the judge now…" Castle said, going to his Hamptons folder in his contacts. "Her husband is a big poker player, he's called me for games out there," he explained in case his fiancé was wondering why he had both of the Carpenters' numbers. "Lydia? Hey, yeah, I was out there for the Fourth, yeah, a great holiday. Listen, are you going to be busy on the seventeenth?" he asked once the judge had picked up the phone.

Taking Castle's hand, Beckett squeezed it tightly, wanting the date to work out for them. She let out a sigh of relief when he then said, "You're going to be home. Okay, listen, my fiancée and I… yeah, you met her at the party, Kate, yes, we'd like to be married that day, it isn't too short notice is it?"

Waiting for the judge to look at her appointment book, Castle pulled the phone away from his head and whispered, "You're squeezing my hand pretty tight."

"Sorry," Beckett said, smiling when he grinned at her.

"Yeah, I'm here… you will, okay, great. What time?" Castle asked, looking to Beckett. "Hold on. Do you mind having it at eleven? I figure we'll have lunch at the reception, and then leave after three hours, so we should get where we're going with enough time to go out and eat dinner."

"So it's close," Beckett said, smirking. "Ask if eight is alright," she then said. At Castle's surprise she told him, "That way we don't have to wait that long to have the ceremony that day and we can get to wherever we're going for the honeymoon quicker."

"Okay, Lydia? Sorry, just talking to her, is eight possible?" Castle said to the judge. "Great, you have it set? Perfect, great, thanks so much, we'll see you then." When he hung up he hugged Beckett tightly as she kissed him and said, "Okay, so… we have a date."

"I know," Beckett said in understanding, smiling at him. She was surprised when he got up then and asked, "Where are you going?"

"I feel like we should have some wine, a toast," Castle explained.

"We need to tell them you know," Beckett said, going over to the kitchen.

"Do you want to tell them when they come back?" he asked her, pausing.

"Like right now?" Beckett asked as she heard the sound of a key in the lock. "What are you doing?" she said as she saw he was covering his ears.

"You know Julia's got a nice set of lungs on her," Castle said jokingly before he uncovered them, going over to the door with Beckett in tow just as their daughter opened the door.

Freezing in place when she saw him, Julia's mouth dropped open before she shrieked, "CASTLE!" and ran into his arms. She hugged him around the neck as he picked her up, pressing her cheek tightly against his as she sobbed once and then started to kiss him wildly. "I missed you," she sniffed. "Mommy too."

"She told me," Castle assured her, kissing the side of her head. "And believe me when I say I missed you all. Come inside, the neighbors are going to wonder at that scream." He then said jokingly to Beckett, "I told you she had a good set of lungs."

Shaking her head, Beckett blinked away the tears at seeing Julia's reaction to seeing him again and hugged her dad when he and Martha had come inside the loft, the door closed behind them. "I'm fine," she murmured when he asked. "Just relieved."

"I can imagine," Jim said, smiling with his daughter as they watched Castle hugging Alexis with one arm since he was still holding Julia.

"We have some more good news," Beckett then said after Martha had hugged her son.

"Yeah, we just picked a date for the wedding," Castle said in a nonchalant tone, since he wanted to see how his mother and daughter reacted to that.

"Finally, I thought I was going to somehow have to get you two to start thinking about that at the very least," Martha said, throwing her hands up in the air slightly.

"What did you decide on?" Alexis asked.

"The seventeenth," Beckett replied.

"The same number as my birthday?" Julia asked with a smile.

"The perfect day," Castle said, smiling when she leaned over in his arms as her mother came over to them. "And I already called Judge Carpenter; we're going to have it at eight in the morning."

"That's pretty early," Alexis said in surprise, sharing a look with her grandmother.

"Your dad apparently wants to get us wherever we're going for the honeymoon as soon as possible," Beckett said.

"You still haven't told her where you're going?" Martha asked her son.

"It'll be a surprise, not my wedding gift to her, but a surprise," Castle said simply.

"That's a little over three weeks," Alexis said, looking at her phone then.

"We're having a very, very simple ceremony," Beckett said quickly.

"I'll help out if you need it," Alexis offered.

"That would be great," Beckett said. "I might have to take you up on that."

"Okay, so, I see you brought dinner with you," Castle said. "Should I get the drinks?"

After telling her fiancé she would get her own drink, Beckett took her dad into Castle's office and asked, "Are you okay with this?"

"I don't think it's really up to me," Jim said with a slight laugh. "But if you're asking about the less than three weeks; I don't think you're rushing Katie, you and Castle have been waiting for a long time for this, and you've spent so much time together, I know you're both ready for the wedding."

"Definitely," Beckett said with a sigh. "I'm just hoping this case will be over by then."

"We noticed the two officers outside, for him?" Jim asked, nodding to Castle who was walking up to them.

"For your daughter," Castle said seriously. "We think the killer might be a stalker. But she'll be alright, you can only get into the apartment one way, and that's through the lobby. So she's safe."

"Plus I happened to be armed," Beckett said, rolling her eyes.

"That too," Castle said, stepping out of the way of her dad as he left. "You'll keep the gun in the nightstand right?"

"I'd like it close too," Beckett replied, reaching up to cup the back of his head as they kissed quickly. "Now come on, let's have dinner with our family, which we haven't done since last Sunday."

Sitting down at the table after Julia had run up to them and had made him do so, Castle watched as Beckett started to go to the kitchen to help when their daughter made her sit down. "I guess we're both being served tonight," he commented.

"Sweetie, tell Martha to get Castle the same soda I'm having," Beckett said. "She'll drink his wine."

"Why-" Castle started to ask.

"Feel all the way recovered?" Beckett replied simply.

"Not yet, though the wine would have knocked us completely out," Castle said. "Thank you sweetheart," he said when she came back with two glasses with ginger ale in them. "Oh, so you're sitting here tonight?" he asked her as she then climbed up on his lap.

"Can I?" Julia asked.

"Go ahead," Castle said, smiling at his fiancée. "So, tell us how swimming was today. And also, how was it at camp the other day when you did arts and crafts? Now you can tell me."

Sitting down at his usual chair at the table, Jim had to smile as his granddaughter was speaking hurriedly; trying to remember everything she'd done at camp on Monday. He watched as Castle and Beckett listened to her attentively, until finally Julia stopped and he said, "She never gave us what she made for all of us."

"Well, now you can," Castle replied, looking at the little girl.

"Mommy, can I do it now?" Julia asked pleadingly.

"After," Beckett said. "I didn't know we wouldn't have time before we ate," she said as she took the plate that Alexis handed her.

"Oh hey, you went to Andromache?" Castle asked when he noticed what was on the plate in front of him.

"We're having a celebratory dinner," Martha said. "So we picked out one of your favorites."

"Thank you, and for serving us, next time we'll just set everything on the table," Castle said, handing Julia her fork after Alexis had put the little girl's plate next to his.

"It was so it was a surprise," Julia told him seriously.

"And it was," he assured her. He was about to start eating when Beckett stopped him.

"A toast," Beckett said. "To all of us coming to dinner after a week without our usual Sunday dinner," she said as the others picked up their glasses.

"And the wedding too Mommy, now we know when it is," Julia said quickly.

"To that too," Beckett said with a smile. " _Salud_."

" _Salud_ ," Julia said, tapping her glass against who she could reach, which was her mother, Castle and Alexis. She took a sip of her milk and then hugged him tightly saying, "I'm glad you're here to have dinner."

"Me too sweetheart," Castle said, kissing her forehead. He then urged her to eat and was surprised at what his and Beckett's daughter said to him next.

"Can we start planning the wedding now for real?" Julia asked, looking at her mother and Castle.

"What we should do," Beckett said, after setting down her napkin. "Is write out everything we need and then start getting what we can."

"You have one thing already, the judge," Alexis said.

"And where you'll be married, luckily we won't need to see if it's open that day," Martha commented. "But you're having it very early Richard, I don't know if that's the best idea."

"It's a necessity," Castle commented. He ate some of his pasta and then continued with, "And I don't think you can begrudge us wanting to rush the last bit of time until the ceremony."

"That'll be the only rushing we do," Beckett said. "Oh, we'll have to get the license another day, city hall isn't open on Sunday. And what about filing it?"

"Lydia will do that," Martha said.

"She'll take it for us and it will be filed," Castle said, nodding in agreement to what his mother had said. "And we have until two on Saturday to get it before they close."

"Isn't Paul's concert the day before that?" Alexis asked.

"We'll have to leave in the morning to make it to the Hamptons in time," Beckett said. "Dad, is it okay we're having the wedding on a Sunday? I forgot about work for you."

"Don't worry," Jim said reassuringly. "I was going to take the week you got married off, that way I can be there at the beach house with Julia; if you both don't mind," he said to Martha and Alexis who shook their heads.

"Think you'll be able to get those two weeks off after?" Castle then asked his fiancée.

"I should, I do have seniority," Beckett reminded him. "And I can talk to Gates about it if need be. I just hope with all that's happened she isn't that mad at me about defending you as much as I did."

"Why doesn't she like you?" Julia asked, peering up at Castle.

"It's because I work with your mom, but I'm not with the police," he replied.

"And he likes to guess things that are very crazy and would never happen," Beckett said. "Oh come on," she said, giving him a look when he'd been about to protest. "I think that annoys Gates the most."

"Hey, in the end I do my best to help," Castle said, holding up his hands in self-defense.

"Can I help?" Julia then asked.

"Oh no, I think my captain would draw the line at you helping, though you did in one of our cases remember," Beckett said, leaning over and giving her a kiss. "But let's go back to the list for the wedding. We're getting a tent, we need to see how big we might need it to be," she said to change the subject.

The subject of the list took up so much time, that Julia wasn't able to ask her mother a question. Finally, after everything had been cleaned up and they were all going to the couch and chairs in the living room, she gave up and ran up to Alexis' room. She heard her sister asking Beckett where she was going, but she just ignored that, and went slowly back down the stairs, her arms full and she was careful not to fall. "This is for you," she told Martha, handing her a plate. "And you Grandpapa," she told him, giving him a big sheet of paper. "You Alexis, and for you," she said to her sister, mother and Castle, having given everyone one thing each while holding some things back.

"You painted this kiddo?" Martha asked, holding the plate up.

"Yeah, does it look like the birdie on your lamp?" Julia asked eagerly. When she nodded, the little girl jumped up and down saying, "I wanted to get the colors just like it."

"And you did, come here," Martha said, gesturing her over. "I'll put it on my short dresser, so it has some of the same colors as the other. Thank you so much darling."

"Welcome," Julia said before she felt her grandfather touch her hand. "Do you like it?" she asked nervously.

"I do, the colors are just like in Barcelona," Jim said, since he could tell his granddaughter had attempted to make her paper mosaic look like one of Gaudi's. "And this is a good size to frame and hang up in my office, next to my picture that you gave me on Father's Day. Thank you honey," he told her as she hugged him.

"I love this," Alexis said with a smile as she touched the thread spirograph picture. "You made this?"

Yeah, I had to get help, Miss Blackburn helped me 'cause the needle I used was pointy and I wore thick gloves," Julia explained. "Remember Mommy?" she said quickly in case her mother was going to be angry.

"I remember," Beckett said with a smile, since she'd been given a letter from the camp, warning that the kids were going to be able to make those pictures with needles, but would be supervised at all times, so she'd signed the consent form, knowing her daughter would be careful.

"You did an amazing job," Alexis said, hugging her sister to her. She kissed her cheek saying, "I'll have to find a frame and put it on my wall, it could go with my Indian pictures I want to get. Thanks Jules and I mean it."

Smiling, Julia went to Castle next and touched a planet on what she'd made for him. "I made this 'cause you like the show about space as much as me," she reminded him.

"I did, and I love this too, I think we all love what you made for us," Castle said, not surprised the others nodded in agreement. "And I do love this, a very nice looking picture of space," he said, holding up the black picture with hand painted planets and white paint splattered on the back for stars. There was a bright blue smudge on it that he immediately recognized as the star Eta Carinae from _Cosmos_ , what it would like if it went hypernova that Julia had been fascinated with. "I'll put it on my desk okay?"

"Will you remember me and Mommy when you see it?" Julia asked.

Hearing the hopefulness in her voice, Castle pulled her close and kissed her temple saying, "Trust me, there's never going to be a time I don't remember you two. But yes, I will remember now when I see this, and remember how we'd watch the show together and looked at the stars together."

Going to her mother, Julia squealed when she saw she had on the bracelet she'd made out of beads, "You like it?" When she nodded, the little girl then quickly said, "I made one for me too, I want us to wear them on the wedding, maybe?" showing them her wrist with a similar bracelet. But while her mother's bracelet had silver beads that were all the same except for two light blue beads, her own was of white and light blue beads interchanging. "And I can make more, if I go to camp tomorrow. Is tomorrow Thursday?" she asked her mother.

"It is," Martha said.

"Do you want bracelets for the wedding?" Julia asked her and Alexis. When they nodded she said, "I can make them, and all you have to say is the colors you want."

"Sweetie," Beckett said, getting her attention. She shared a kiss with her daughter before saying, "I love this, and I'll wear it because you made it for me okay? I'm just surprised you didn't put beads to match my dress colors."

"Hey, she's seen your dress?" Castle said in a mock whining voice.

"All the Becketts have," Jim commented.

"So I guess the three of us need to wait," Alexis said as Julia was giggling softly.

"You'll see it before I do," Castle said, narrowing his eyes playfully at his daughter. When Julia patted his cheeks he leaned down, kissing her before he looked at her bracelet and Beckett's next to each other. "You're an artist you know," he said.

"Is that it?" Beckett asked when Castle had let them go.

"No, I have this," Julia said, giving her mother the bag she'd taken to camp to carry all the things she'd made that day.

"Tree branches?" Castle asked, looking over his fiancée's shoulder and seeing the canvases inside with twigs glued onto them, looking like trees with leaning branches.

"That's for your new room wherever we have a home," Julia said. "See the little bags?"

"Colored rice, buttons, fabric leaves, tissue paper leaves, paints and flat beads," Beckett said, handing the sandwich bags that held the items to Castle.

"I wanted everyone to make a tree for your room," Julia said, her voice suddenly down to a whisper. "So you have it from our family."

"Lift your head so we can hear you," Beckett said gently, tilting her head up.

"I'm sorry, I thought… I wanted to make the pictures by myself, but… I want you to have trees from all of us," Julia whispered.

"I think that's a great idea," Alexis said suddenly, not surprised when her sister looked at her with wide eyes.

"It is darling," Martha assured her.

"If you two agree," Jim said.  
Smiling, Castle drew Julia into his arms and hugged her tightly saying, "I'll be proud to hang these up in our room when they're done."

"So will I, and it was a great idea, your sister's right," Beckett said. "But it's a little late tonight, so what if we just work on the tree with paint?"

"All of us?" Julia asked as her mother and Castle stood to go over to the table.

"We'll mark the bottom branches here," Castle said as he got a paper towel for Beckett to squeeze out a little of the paint from the small tubes Julia had been given. "The five of us, and then you can take the branches above."

"Mommy?" Julia asked.

"It's a great idea, do you like it?" Beckett replied. When the little girl nodded, she pressed her finger into the light blue paint, and pressed her left ring finger at the bottom of one of the pieces of twig.

"Now you all do it," Julia said, sounding ecstatic. She watched, her smile growing bigger and bigger as next Castle marked next to her mother's 'leaf' with dark green using the same finger she had. Then Alexis went, Martha after and last Jim before Castle was helping her onto the chair the picture was in front of. She bit her lower lip seeing the varying fingerprints and sizes; Alexis and Martha had used their index fingers while her grandfather had used his pinkie; of her family, and she put her biggest fingerprint, her thumb, next to her mother's in light green. Then she got all her other fingers dipped in the paint, using all the colors there were and marking the ends of the twig until the tree was awash with colors. "Does it look good?" she asked her mother eagerly.

"It does, but you should sign it," Beckett said.

"You all should when you make your trees," Castle said as his fiancée went to his daughter and spoke with her quickly.

"Where's she going?" Julia asked as he picked her up and took her to the sink so she could watch her fingertips.

"Okay, she's not going to be able to sign it," Alexis said.

"That's okay," Castle said, as he realized what his fiancée had asked her. "You sign it since you're the only one who knows how to write in Hindi at the moment."

"What are you gonna put in that?" Julia asked in surprise.

"Your name… no, I know what to do, hand me a pencil," Alexis told her dad. She took it and then traced out Julia's name in Hindi, using the Devanagari alphabet before she put her sister on her lap, putting the pen in her hand and helping her trace जूलिया before they pulled away. "Okay, just wait for that to dry. You like it?"

"Yeah," Julia said, nodding firmly before looking at her mother and Castle. "What are all your names gonna be?"

"Okay, mine will be Al since they don't have my name in Hindi," Alexis said, writing अल. "But don't start calling me that," she teased her sister. She then wrote down केट saying, "That's your mom's name." Then रिक telling her dad, "I put Rick, Dad, because it's shorter." Then she wrote her grandmother's name मरथा, and Jim's name जिम saying, "So everyone has their name but me."

"I'm wondering," Jim said after they'd all complimented Alexis on her writing. "Why Hindi?"

"We like how it looks," Beckett said quickly, sharing a smile with her fiancé. She then picked up the picture and said, "This was a great idea sweetie, I can't wait to see what it looks like when we finish them all."

"We'll have a whole family of art trees," Castle commented. "All of us different, but all of us a family still. Don't tell the boys I said that, they'd never let me live that down," he told his fiancée before she kissed him tenderly on the lips. He smiled when Julia tugged his arm and he picked her up, kissing her too as Beckett kissed her other cheek, suddenly feeling the joy of being home yet again and not caring that moment was so sentimental; he needed it after thinking he'd never see his family again as a free man.

* * *

Looking out the window, Beckett nearly jumped when she felt a hand on her back, but knew instantly that it was her fiancé, so she merely smiled and turned to him, saying, "Shift change."

"Yeah, anything?" Castle asked, looking down with her at the two cars.

"No, I'm pretty sure Reynolds isn't going to be so stupid as to come now we know his interest in me," Beckett said. "But I'm not going to take the chance with our daughter. Is she ready?"

"Almost falling asleep," Castle said as they walked over to the stairs.

"Someone was swimming for too long," Beckett said, walking into Alexis' room where Castle's daughter had given Julia a bath that night.

"It was a lot of fun," Alexis commented. "And someone wanted to stay in the pool," she said, smiling at her sister who giggled sheepishly in her arms. "I'm going to stay, but let me say goodnight to you first. I love you Jules and sweet dreams okay?"

"I will," Julia said, smiling as she blushed at her sister's I love you. She hugged Alexis and shared a kiss with her before she was given to Castle. "What are you gonna make leaves with on your tree?" she then asked her sister.

"The buttons," Alexis replied, nodding to her desk where everything was. "You should have your grandfather use the rice or tissue."

"I'll let everyone pick," Julia said as she was hugging Castle tightly. She shared a kiss with him and then stood on the bed saying, "I'm glad you like my idea and the planets."

"You're really creative," Castle said.

"You get that from him," Beckett commented, not surprised when Julia giggled heavily at that.

"She's right," Castle said. "But your mom is too, so it's definitely a family thing. Now you should get some sleep after today, so I love you sweetheart, and sweet dreams."

Nodding, Julia hugged him and shared a kiss with him again before she then hugged her mother once she came up to her. "Love you Mommy, lots," she told her seriously, smiling at Castle over her shoulder.

"I love you too sweetie," Beckett said. "Sleep tight and stay with Alexis okay?"

"I will," Julia said with a nod as she laid down at her mother's direction. She put her arms over the sheet and held her Stitch doll before she shared a kiss with her mother and then watched them go to the doorway.

"I'll make sure she falls asleep," Alexis said, turning on her desk lamp.

"Night," Beckett said, Castle echoing her before they left, closing the lights and door.

When the door closed behind them, Julia whispered, "Alexis?"

"Yeah," the young woman said, looking over at her.

"Why did Mommy and Castle want that pretty writing? We're not from India," Julia said.

"No, but I'm not from India, and I love a lot of the culture," Alexis reminded her. "And you know your mom and grandfather aren't from Spain, but they like it a lot."

"Me too," Julia said thoughtfully. "They should do something for the wedding with that writing."

"I think they already have something in mind," Alexis said with a smile.

"Can I ask something else?" Julia said then.

"Okay, just one more question," Alexis said, going to sit on her side of the bed.

"Are you happy there's really gonna be a wedding?" Julia asked, having been afraid that her sister would not want the wedding to happen since she'd had another family with Castle before the little girl had known her.

"Of course, you see how happy our parents are together Jules, and I want you to finally be my sister too," Alexis assured her. "And I do want to help your mom if she needs it for the wedding. Now go to sleep okay?"

"Kay," Julia said. "Night 'lexis," she said sleepily, having wanted to talk more to her sister but feeling too tired. She closed her eyes and was very quickly asleep after that, not realizing when she had fallen asleep.

Going over to her, Alexis kissed her forehead and straightened her doll in her arms. She couldn't help smile at Julia's fear when she'd asked her about the wedding, knowing the little girl wanted them all to be a family; judging by how important the trees were. She turned to her desk and looked at the buttons before she took out a red one, starting to decorate the tree she'd chosen out of the five left in the set.

Inside Castle's room, Beckett was sitting cross legged on the bed, in the middle as she wanted a clear area, not too close to an edge or the headboards. Her fiancé had been taking a shower, and she was concentrating on her mantra so intently, that she didn't realize he'd come out until she felt his gaze on her. "Hmm, I think I've decided," she said, opening her eyes to look at him in the doorway to the bathroom.

"What the meaning of life is?" Castle asked, jumping on the bed on his knees.

"Oh, we already know that," Beckett said, tossing her hair back over her shoulder, knowing it would tease her fiancé to no end; with his obsession with her hair. "According to Paul remember? There are seven levels." She smiled when he laughed and then shook her head saying, "No, what I'll use for my tree."

"And?" Castle asked when she didn't continue.

Smiling, Beckett leaned over and murmured, "The beads."  
Castle waited until they'd kissed very gently on the lips before saying, "Yeah, I think that's what Julia wanted you to use, considering they're a mix of blues, silver and white. What do you think I should use?"

"I'm not deciding," Beckett said. "But sit here with me, meditate on it a while."

"Meditate to figure out art?" Castle asked with a slight grin.

"And to get us ready to sleep," Beckett said, watching him carefully. She was relieved when he kissed her, gently again but with slightly more pressure than the previous one, knowing he was tired enough to just sleep. But when he pulled away from her she couldn't help tease him saying, "But who knows, we might just dream about earlier after we came back home."

Groaning, Castle said, "You don't like it when I call you this, but damn it love, you're a vixen." He laughed when she rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, so let's do that and then sleep, since we'll need the rest for tomorrow."

Beckett watched as he closed his eyes, and the smile on her face fell for a moment before she shook away her thoughts nagging in the back of her mind and she closed hers as well. Concentrating on her breathing, chanting her mantra, she tried to mediate, but eventually she realized she was feeling Castle's gaze on her yet again. "Rick," she said warningly, looking at him and seeing he was staring at her.

"I have the answer," Castle said, leaning over and kissing her. "I'll use the rice; remember I was the first one in the family to cook _paella_ , though you assisted me."

"Good enough for me," Beckett said, "So my dad will be using the tissue paper," she commented as she joined him under the sheet. Before he could cover them though she stopped him and kissed him gently at first, before they were suddenly deepening it, holding on tightly as she fell back on the bed. "Tomorrow morning…" she began.

"A bath, we'll need a bath," Castle suggested. He was relieved when his fiancée smiled, so he kissed her again, sensuously, but careful not to let it get too out of hand before they were pulling away from each other. "I love you Kate," he told her seriously.

"I love you too Rick, welcome home," Beckett said, initiating the next kiss that was much as his had been.

Lying on their sides as they'd done earlier, Castle and Beckett were yet again falling asleep rapidly, the stress of the past two days, coupled with their lovemaking that afternoon making them fatigued. But that time there was no separation and they had the thought echoing through them both that they knew when they were going to get married. So their sleep was far more peaceful than it had been in some time, and they spent the rest of the night knowing they were close, not wanting to lose that feeling as time went on to the next morning.


	8. Lost Without A Trace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Every Breath You Take written by Sting and performed by The Police, from their album Synchronicity.

Walking into the bathroom, Beckett saw that her fiancé was sitting on the edge of the tub, so she walked over to him, catching a glimpse of his hand. "You're a little too confident," she told him, standing right next to him.

"Well, I think I should be because…" Castle said before his voice trailed off rapidly as Beckett pulled the tie of her robe. When she let it fall to the floor he then said, "What about me being confident?"

Merely smirking as she stepped into the tub past him since she was naked already, Beckett waited for him to take off his pajama pants and join her before she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "You're a little too cocky, but I think I can make it work to my advantage," she commented as he pulled her down with him to sit. She got on her knees in between his legs and said, "I don't think we really needed to come in here."

"Oh so you just want to get out?" Castle asked, making a motion as if he was going to do that. He smiled when Beckett merely rolled her eyes, since she was in the way and he couldn't move, and then sat against the back of the tub. "I don't know, I thought we could use this since we're not needed right this second. Who knows how this manhunt will go?"

"True, but I didn't really want to talk about work here," Beckett said before leaning over and kissing him. She was pleased when he quickly responded, their lips soon parting slowly as it was a brief kiss. "Better things to do…" she murmured simply before he was bringing her down to him again, kissing her harder. She parted her lips for his seeking tongue, feeling it sliding against hers before she managed to roll hers around him a few times. She felt him shudder once when she did that the first time, and then pulled away whispering, "Hurry."

Trying to do as she asked, Castle was soon ready; in record time he thought; and he was helping his fiancée lower her body. Breathing out roughly, he held her just barely by her hips, watching as the last bit of his erection disappeared and he was within her. He leaned up a little, and started to kiss at her neck as she'd tilted her head back enough in her pleasure to allow him to do that. Since she seemed to be distracted, he moved up once, very carefully, loving her slight moan that seemed to be a little surprised. He moved again, and that time took firmer hold of her waist, making her move with him. Soon he was able to let her go, and she matched his pace, making him draw her down to his lips for a much deeper kiss that time.

Stroking his hair, Beckett kissed her fiancé back as they began to move their heads back and forth, and she gently raked her nails over his scalp. She was a little surprised when he suddenly pulled back and grabbed her hips again to slow her down, though they weren't moving that fast in the first place. She was breathing heavily as she pressed her forehead against him, just feeling him, though it wasn't that well. She opened her eyes and watched him then, biting her lower lip hard as his opened to look at her, and she was almost knocked breathless by the intensity in his blue eyes, darkened in his arousal. She kissed him that time, and wasn't too shocked when he responded to her roughly. She was pleased at that, as she didn't want everything about that moment to be careful or gentle, already trusting him to take things slowly. She suddenly rolled her hips instead of moving up and down, and she felt Castle grabbing her on the small of her back tight. "Again?" she whispered to him.

"Yes," Castle groaned, wanting to feel that again. He let out a grunt that lasted in one full rotation of her hips, and he responded to her by thrusting a little harder against her. He was surprised when Beckett kissed him gently, almost as if she was trying to pacify him. But he didn't think about it much longer, as she was taking his hands from her back, placing them on her breasts. He looked up at her intently, and moved them from her chest, down along her sides. He wasn't too shocked when she pulled on the back of his head, bringing him down to her right breast in response.

Her lower lip between her teeth again, Beckett bit down hard on it as he began to suckle at her, and she was going back to her up and down motion. She kept it slow though, as she wanted to be able to feel what he was doing, and was relieved that he was moving himself at the same pace. She stroked the back of his hair as she watched him move to her other breast, and her hands were soon clasped around the back of his neck before she was leaning down, kissing him when he tilted his head up to her. "More?" she whispered.

"No, this is… perfect," Castle murmured, his lips close enough against hers that they brushed together. She was moving, constantly moving and though it wasn't rough or fast, there was enough for him to feel some kind of friction and it felt amazing around him. He found himself wanting to ask her how much longer they needed to wait, but pushed the thought away; knowing it definitely wasn't the time for that. Especially as he watched her reaching in between them with her left hand, and her ring was lost in the shadows between them. He hissed as the middle diamond scraped along his skin and he soon felt her reaching her clit. But as she was pleasuring herself, she was still scratching, and he reached up, taking her hand out and putting his in her place.

Beckett was a little annoyed, until his fingers began to move up and down and then in a repeated circle, making her fingers dig a little into his neck that she was holding the back of. It was a jolt, a rush that added to the building pleasure from the motion of them moving together and one that wasn't stopping. She soon was able to get back in control of herself, and reached down again, but that time with her right hand as she'd been able to guess why exactly he'd moved her other hand in the first place. A short gasp left her lips as double the fingers stimulating her led to more that she found herself needing to handle. "Castle," she whispered in warning.

"Go love, I'm with you," he groaned, wrapping his arms around her then and holding her close as they suddenly started to move up out of the water more than they had before, faster and rougher. He kissed around her neck before they suddenly were meeting with their lips, and he kissed her hungrily before her back under his hands suddenly went tense before she was ripping away from him.

Crying out his name once, Beckett was slightly aware of Castle yelling her name in a groan as he joined her. Though they weren't able to quite feel each other, she could still sense his pleasure as the ecstasy worked through her entire form, like tendrils that snaked all around, wrapping her in the knowledge that she was never going to feel anything like that ever again unless she was with her fiancé. There was no way to know how she knew that, or that he was feeling the same as her; she just became aware of it which confused her before her climax took her attention again. Their thrusts had grown a little frantic towards the end, but together they slowed, and gradually they came to a stop, with her leaning against him as Castle lay again on the back of the tub, holding her close.

"Glad you didn't object to my idea last night," he said when he'd recovered enough to talk.

"Hmm, glad you thought to come here," Beckett said with a sigh. She then raised her head and watched him closely before she started to open her mouth to speak. But before she could say a word, the alarm on her phone started to ring, and she groaned under her breath as that was to let them know that they needed to start getting ready for work. Sighing she said, "We'll be able to relax tonight."

"Yeah, we should probably catch up on sleep," Castle said. "But I do feel a lot better."

"Me too," Beckett said as she waited for her fiancé to get her towel before she got out, letting him start to dry her. She returned the favor, relieved when he didn't try to do anything sexual, as she really wanted to get into the station to finish the case. "I hope he doesn't keep you there long," she told him as they were walking out into the bedroom.

"I know, I'll have to let him know I want to find the son of a bitch who tried to frame me," Castle commented watching as she started to get dressed.

"Hurry, I have to take Julia," Beckett said, turning and seeing that he was watching her. She smiled when he quickly went over to his closet, and she pulled on a white shirt before pulling on her beige v-neck sweater. Looking at herself in the mirror above his dresser, she glanced at her lips, not surprised to see the state they were in after the way he'd kissed her. She then looked down at her neck as she was pulling her hair into a ponytail, telling her fiancé as he was coming out, "You know you don't need to hold back here," touching her neck.

"That's right I don't, but you're not worried about Gates asking something?" Castle asked, a little surprised to realize she was right.

"She wouldn't, she doesn't care about our personal lives, as long as it doesn't break any policies," Beckett said. "But how she'd know you were the one who would mark me…"

"Good point," Castle said, going up behind her then. He leaned down, and proceeded to kiss around her neck slowly, gently.

"Hmm, thank you," Beckett said when he soon pulled away.

"I figured you didn't want to start right now," Castle said. "But the second I get the chance…"

Smiling at the look he gave her as he said that, Beckett shook her head and then kissed him gently, feeling her swollen lips even in the slight pressure from that. She then went out into the living room first, surprised to see that Alexis was coming down the stairs with Julia; who was already dressed. "I see someone's excited for camp," she commented, smiling as the little girl ran to them.

"Morning!" Julia cried happily. "Did you sleep nice now that Castle's back?" she asked her mother.

"I think we both slept great now I'm home," Castle answered. "And you?"

"I was very tired and I felt like I closed my eyes," Julia was saying as they went to the kitchen. "And boom I was awake and it was morning."

"Good description of sleep," Castle commented as Beckett laughed softly at their daughter's wide-eyed explanation. "Okay, so for breakfast, I was thinking oatmeal, very quick, but it'll give our little artist energy for her arts and crafts. If she's okay with having that."

"Yes please," Julia said immediately, smiling as she knew Castle was talking about her. She sat with Alexis on the chairs in front of the counter, watching as her mother made a cup of coffee and then got a pitcher with orange juice.

"You only have enough for one cup," Beckett told her fiancé when he saw the one mug she'd filled.

"Oh, you-" Castle began.

"It's okay, I know you'll get me a cup when you're coming back from your publisher's," Beckett said, kissing his cheek. She then helped Julia and Alexis set the table before she turned to the stairs saying, "Morning Martha," as Castle's mother was coming down the stairs then.

"Good morning," she replied, seeing everyone going to the table. "Looks like a wonderful breakfast, and I am so glad I woke up in time to join you," she said, sitting at her seat after kissing Julia and squeezing both Alexis' and her son's shoulders. "So, when are you getting that list ready you two?" she directed to Castle and Beckett.

"Tonight we could," Beckett said, looking at her fiancé.

"Fine with me, let me work on my picture with Julia at the same time though," Castle said.

"You want to join in?" Martha asked her son.

"I told her I would," Castle commented. "And Julia will help us too, right?"

Nodding, the little girl was eating her oatmeal, trying not to hurry since she wanted to go to camp after the reaction she got to what she'd made the night before. Julia then said, "What can I do?"

"Remember your idea for the centerpieces?" Beckett reminded her.

"Oh! I do, I can help with those?" Julia asked, bouncing up and down a little in her chair.

"You can, and also with anything else we'll need your help with," Castle said.

"Are you taking me to camp?" Julia then asked a little later when there was a pause in the conversation about the list of things still needed to be done for the wedding.

"I can't, I need to go talk with the person who works where they publish my books," Castle told her since she'd been talking to him. "But tomorrow I should be able to take her."

"You'll probably be taking her on your own, I'll likely have paperwork," Beckett said.

"You didn't finish with the case?" Alexis asked as she took her bowl to the sink.

"No, but we should be close today," Beckett said. "You can come with me if you want to," she then directed to Castle's daughter and mother.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to head to my studio, I need to check and make sure I have props for when I start up classes again. I need to make an inventory," Martha said.

"I'll go," Alexis said. "I might walk around the stores near the school before I look at the hospital by her school."

"Still no luck interning?" Castle asked as he started to turn on the water. He was startled when his fiancée turned it off and he looked at her. "Oh crap, I'm running late," he said, looking at his watch. At the same time he heard his phone ring and groaned saying, "That'll be Jay, he's been understanding about my writing, but not about being late to meetings with him."

"Do I have time to wash these?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah," Beckett said with a nod. "Sweetie? Your backpack," she said to Julia.

"Are we leaving now?" the little girl asked, handing Martha the rag she'd used to clean as much of the table as she could reach.

"When your sister is finished," Beckett told her. "But I want you to have it ready so we can just go."

"Alright, do you want me to call you when I'm heading to the station?" Castle asked as Beckett met him at the door.

"Text," she told him, straightening the lapel of his jacket. "And there might not be that much to do today, since I'll either be helping track down Reynolds, or building the case against him."

"I could help with the latter," Castle said simply. "Hey, sweetheart, come here and give me a hug before I go," he said, looking over her shoulder to see their daughter coming down the stairs. After he helped her set her backpack on the table by the door, he picked her up and kissed her cheek saying, "What're you going to make today?"

"I have to make bracelets," Julia told him seriously. "Alexis and Martha said what colors to make for theirs. And then I'm gonna make something for my new room, and maybe something for everybody like I did before."

"And that's really all you do all day?" Castle asked, exaggerating his surprise in his facial expression and making her giggle.

"No," Julia replied. "We have lunch."

"And they play for about forty minutes in the morning and again right before the parents come to pick them up," Beckett answered.

"Sounds like fun," Castle said. He bounced Julia in his arms a little and told her, "You know I managed to work with your mom, think I could work my way in and join you at camp? I'd look good in powder blue," tapping the sleeve of her camp shirt.

With a laugh, Julia shook her head saying, "You're too tall for that, they wouldn't let you stay."

"Too bad. Well, since I can't do that, like I said I want to work on my tree picture with you," Castle said. "I decided to use rice."

"I can help," Julia said, nodding. "I made pictures with pasta and rice, so I can teach you," she said proudly.

"Yes you can," Castle chuckled as Beckett smiled at that. He then said, "Okay, I really need to go, so I love you sweetheart, and have a great day, have a lot of fun."

"I will," Julia promised, nodding again. She shared a kiss with him and patted his face saying, "Go to work with Mommy after?"

"Definitely," Castle said, kissing her cheek before he set her down.

Watching their daughter hurry over to the kitchen, Beckett turned to her fiancé and said, "Glad to hear you'll still want to come in; though Gates will likely be toxic towards you."

"Probably," Castle nodded in agreement. "But I'll let you know when I'm on my way," he said before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply.

Though she hadn't forgotten their family was still there, able to see them; and neither had Castle; Beckett let herself get a little involved in that kiss before she broke it off, well before the customary point where they needed to breathe. "Go," she told him as he kissed her neck, making her smile as she knew as soon as he could, he was going to be exploring that option. "I'll see you at the station," she said, still smiling as she let go of him. "Love you," she said quickly.

"Love you Kate," Castle said, smiling back before he squeezed her hand as he called a goodbye to the others, then headed down the hall.

Julia smiled as she watched the exchange, and then went to get her backpack as her mother closed the door since Alexis was finished with the dishes. "Mommy?" she asked, peering up at her.

"Okay, let's check and make sure your lunch is ready," Beckett said, taking her daughter's hand and going to the kitchen again. She thanked Alexis for setting Julia's Beatles lunchbox on the counter, and as she and Julia made sure everything was ready inside, she kissed the little girl's temple, smiling as her daughter kissed her back. She found herself drawn into a conversation about what Julia could make for Castle, finding herself able to forget about work for just a little bit longer.

* * *

Inside his publisher's office, Castle paused when he saw Jay's secretary's desk was unoccupied, but guessed the woman hadn't gotten in yet since that wasn't an unusual occurrence. He checked the time, and then rolled his eyes at his own assumption that it was later than it was. He went to the door behind the desk and knocking heard a muffled call for him to come inside. "Hey Jay, you got a cold?" he asked as he closed the door behind him, looking to the closet where he knew the publisher kept some bottles of liquor. "I think scotch… Jay?" he said, looking around as the closet was open but empty; as was the rest of the office. He went to the desk, and saw the phone was off the hook, the person who'd called him in had spoken from the speaker.

An uneasy feeling going through him, Castle opened the door and rushed out, and as soon as he had stepped into the outer room he was tripped, shoved to the floor at the same time. But since the secretary's desk was in the way, he managed to grab the edge and saved his wrists from breaking. He was just barely able to stand when he was avoiding a blow to the head with what looked like a nightstick. His attacker swung down again as he turned to him, but his reflexes had recovered, and he managed to grab the man's wrist before he was punched in the stomach. He had no time to recover from that, and he was pushed down on his back, gasping for air as the wind was knocked out of him. The kick to his side was hard, and an explosion of pain made him double up and groan loudly before he managed to drag himself away, a little dizzy from how hard he'd fallen.

Watching the man in front of him, Castle got up as he used the wall he'd made it to behind him, and began to inch his way towards the door as they were in a silent standoff. Breathing roughly, he reached out with his left hand, willing the doorknob to suddenly appear in his palm. He was a little confused when the man seemed to be letting him go, just watching him. He then felt the seam between the wall and door, and reached out for it.

Just then, the attacker lunged for him, so quickly that Castle had no chance to grab to knob and run out or try to defend himself. Instead he was punched in the eye and as he was staggering back against the wall he was clutched by the head and the attacker slammed his knee into his face, stepping out of the way as Castle fell to the floor on his knees, his nose gushing blood, trying not to choke on it. It was then his head was raised by someone; another person; with fingers pressing against his eyes, and the last thing he knew was the coppery taste of his own blood intermingling with the sweet scent of chloroform on some kind of fabric over his mouth before he passed out into blissful darkness.

* * *

"Hey, so Gates wants me to work on the manhunt for Reynolds," Esposito told Beckett as he and Ryan came into the break room where she was getting a drink. "And you and Ryan can take a look at both the case and Reynolds' background again, see what you might find that could help me."  
"And Castle?" Ryan asked.

"He had a meeting with his publisher," Beckett said simply. "He can help me if you would want to help Espo, Ryan."

"I'll wait until he gets here," the detective replied.

"Did he contact his family at all?" Beckett asked as she walked out with her mug, sitting at her desk.

"No, we had an officer watching all night, and there's only one way to get into the building they're at; he was a no-show," Esposito said.

"Well, we went through past girlfriends…" Beckett started to say before trailing off.

"Have an idea?" Ryan asked.

"We didn't find any past girlfriends, but what if he went to strip clubs? Called escort services?" Beckett replied.

"I think the latter," Ryan said, going to his desk. "In his financials, I found a company called Crestwave. Searched that title repeatedly, but got nothing. But, and thanks to Esposito I know this, it's an escort service here in the city. Crestwave Services."

"And you know about that how?" Beckett asked wryly.

"Before I came into Homicide I did a brief stint with vice," Esposito reminded them. "They were new and the owner then was pretty much a slave driver, and he got a girl under eighteen in his company."

"Okay, then I guess we should start there," Beckett said. "Espo, call if you have anything at all." When he'd gone, she went with Ryan to the conference room and she said, "You want to take the call?"

"I think it would be better if you did," Ryan said, shaking his head.

"They'll get suspicious the second they hear me," Beckett said. "And you can use your desk phone, go." She shook her head slightly when he mumbled something about Jenny killing him, and smiled before she opened the performance file on Reynolds. The smile on her face drifted off as she couldn't help remember the officer. She had been at the Academy the same time he had, but hadn't really known him. She'd mostly kept to herself, with the exception of a man she'd been good friends with, Patrick Darnley. But she could vaguely remember Reynolds, who'd come into training with a black belt in several types of martial arts, and a temper to match. And as she looked at the reports on him, she could see why he'd never risen higher than an officer if he'd wanted to. There were a number of excessive force notations, but that had been when he'd first joined the 83rd Precinct. There was a record of him attending therapy, and that was all she had in the way of anything suspicious on his police records.

She decided then to look again at his personal information, but that was a short file, and she was soon standing, going to the windows. It was then she realized that she was holding her pendant, not even aware she'd begun to do that. She was just about to glance at her watch, feeling a strange sense of some kind of foreboding, when Ryan came inside the room. "Anything?" she asked, since he'd taken a while.

"I found out that Reynolds was asking for one of their girls in particular," Ryan told her. "Daisy."

"No last name?" Beckett said.

"None that they said," Ryan replied, shaking his head. "She's coming down to the station now; she's at the offices of the services; and I could hear her screaming in the background when the owner managed to figure out, out loud, that Reynolds was a suspect in a murder."

"Just from you asking those questions? Usually they guess the person is a victim," Beckett said. "Alright, I'll speak to her back there," she said, nodding to the room near the elevator.

"Any luck with his background?" Ryan asked, looking at all the papers spread out over the table.

"Not really, I was remembering what I could of him at the Academy, you know we graduated in the same class," Beckett replied. At his nod she said, "I don't recall all that much, just that he had a horrible temper."

"Did he ever try to ask you out or hit on you, that kind of thing?" Ryan asked.

"Never, I kept to myself, except for my friend there, Patrick Darnley," Beckett replied. At his blank look she quickly said, "You wouldn't know him of course, but he was here at the 12th, briefly, before he left for DC. I lost contact with him, but he's a cop down there I would guess, or was I'm not sure."

"Think he would remember anything?" Ryan asked.

"No," Beckett said quickly, looking at the elevators that had opened. "He kept to himself too; because he was gay; so we bonded over being outcasts of a sort. But I'm remembering now he hated Reynolds, since he was the macho type; you've seen how he is in the gym."

"Yep, good luck, should I contact Espo, see where he is?" Ryan asked as he turned to follow her gaze and saw who he guessed was Daisy with LT.

"Please, if he doesn't have anything, have him come back, and we'll regroup," Beckett said to him quickly as she went out to where LT was keeping the woman by the doors. "Daisy?" she asked the woman.

"Yes, I, I was supposed to ask for a Detective Ryan," the woman said, looking pale.

"I'm his partner, Detective Kate Beckett, please, follow me," she told her, gesturing her into the room. Once she'd gotten the woman a glass of water and was sitting with her she said, "I understand you know a Mark Reynolds, who used to be an officer here."

"I do, and my boss said he's a killer? That can't be right," Daisy said in tears. "He's a very gentle man, misunderstood he told me, maybe that's why you think it's him."

"I'd like to ask you something," Beckett said, seeing the woman was completely under Reynolds' spell from the tone of her voice. "Has he ever abused you during sex?"

The woman opened her mouth to speak, before she frowned and then buried her face in her hands. "He," she quickly said, cutting off Beckett who was about to talk. "He liked to be rough, choking me… putting me in a tub of ice before we… We weren't supposed to encourage that with our clients, but I went along with it because I thought I loved him."

"When you saw him," Beckett then said, being careful with her tone of voice as she knew whatever veil the woman had covered Reynolds' imperfections with had just been torn to shreds. "Were you in an apartment, a hotel?"

"I was in a building, he said it was a friend's apartment, that the guy was usually out of the country and would let him use it," Daisy said.

"Do you remember where it is?" Beckett asked.

"I do, it's at 1048 West Pavilion," Daisy replied quickly.

Beckett let LT escort the woman out of the Precinct, and she went quickly to Ryan and Esposito; the latter returning as she'd been conducting the interview. "Here, go and find out what you can, this is where Reynolds would take the call girl," she said in a clipped tone of voice, handing them the address.

"On it, I'll get a couple guys to come with us," Esposito said.

"And you?" Ryan asked.

"Better I stay," Beckett said, glancing over at Gates' office. "Just find him." When Ryan and Esposito had left, she went to the break room and looked at her watch again, seeing she hadn't been imagining things, it was well over two hours since Castle had left his loft, and she knew the meeting could have in no way taken that long. She took her phone out of her pocket, calling her fiancé before putting the phone to her ear. When his voicemail message began to play, she decided that he was likely still inside the office, and had his phone on silent.

But there was a thought at the back of her mind, an emotion that something was not right, and Beckett had learned over her years as a detective to never doubt that feeling. She called one more time as she went to her desk, but wasn't surprised when there was no response. So she grabbed her keys and making sure Gates wasn't watching, went down to parking via the stairs. All the way down she kept calling her fiancé, and he did not answer, making her curse in her mind for not having the number of the office to try and reach him. Luckily she knew the address, so she was able to reach it shortly, managing to get there through lightened late morning traffic.

Running down the hall after getting off the elevator, Beckett saw two people; a man and a woman; opening the door to the publisher's office and she called, "Mr. Zweig? I'm Detective Beckett, I-"

"Nikki Heat, it's nice to finally meet you, I was hoping to get to at the-" Zweig began to say, holding out his hand to her.

"Is he here?" Beckett then interrupted him.

"Who? Richard? No, why?" Zweig replied.

"You called him last night," Beckett started to say. "And told him to come in at eight thirty."

"The offices don't open until nine," the woman with him; his secretary; said. "And we only just got here."

"Will you let me in your office?" Beckett said, nodding to the door.

"Here," Zweig said, handing her the keys in his hand.

Beckett opened the door since it had been unlocked, and as soon as she had she froze, seeing the blood on the floor right in front of her along with one other item. Breathing out roughly once, she turned and told Zweig and his secretary to get back before she stepped into the office, taking a handkerchief she kept in her jacket out. Picking up the postcard of the last painting that had been stolen from her fiancé, she got her phone and dialed saying, "Esposito?" once he'd answered. "I need you or Ryan to come to Castle's publisher's office… Castle's been kidnapped" she told him as she read the message scrawled on the back.

_Katherine, I have him with me. Don't try to find me or I will kill him._

* * *

Staring out at the skyline, Beckett thought how strange it was to know that the people she could see in the buildings around her had no idea what had just happened. How no one would know except for herself, those in that hallway, and soon hers and Castle's family. She closed her eyes, hoping everything was a dream, and she would wake up with her fiancé in bed next to her, giving her something she would be able to tell him about and have him tease her for having such a descriptive dream. But the footsteps behind her were real, and she opened her eyes, turning around to face Ryan. "It's his blood," she said finally as he seemed to have a hard time speaking. "Is it a fatal wound?"

"Lanie said no, he should still be alive," Ryan said, leading off with what was likely the best news out of what he had to tell her. "Do you want to hear this?" he asked, seeing she looked almost white, her lips pressed together tightly.

"I need to, I'm still part of the investigation, and will be because Gates doesn't know about us," Beckett said, going past him and then down the hall to the office.

"I'm so sorry Beckett," Lanie said, first to see her friend.

With a slight dip of her head as acknowledgement of that, Beckett asked, "What can you tell me?"

"Well, he wasn't killed, not with this amount of blood, more than likely he was wounded," Lanie replied. "With the pattern and the size of the drops of blood, I want to say his nose was bloodied, and he might have been bent over when it happened."

"Is all the blood his?" Beckett asked.

"It is, CSU took a look around, but it's only Castle's," Lanie said. "A positive."

"That's his," Beckett murmured.

"Beckett?" Esposito said, returning then from canvassing the floor and lobby. "I have some information but-"

"Tell me," Beckett said simply, but not really caring everyone was walking on eggshells around her.

"Well, got a guard in the lobby who says he saw two guys go up with-" Esposito started to say.

"Two?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah. The guard saw two going up with a flat cart that had a new rug on it, and about a half hour later, at a quarter to nine, they came down with…" Esposito continued but then trailed off.

"He was in that same rug," Beckett said, her breath hitching as her mind came up with a dozen different scenarios as to how her fiancé had ended up in a rug.

"It was a different rug, thick, and he insisted it kept its shape or he would have stopped them to look at it," Esposito said.

"Did he watch them leave?" Beckett asked.

"No, a woman started to talk to him, asked him the way to a law firm about two floors down," Esposito said. "I found her, and she's not with the two guys."

"And the guard didn't see the two?" Ryan asked.

"They gave the excuse that the rug they were taking down had black mold, from the floor above this one, and they were taking it to the dump," Esposito said.

"Which means they had masks," Beckett sighed. "And I really doubt they used two rugs, they probably just flipped it around before they put Castle in it. Anything out of the ordinary with them? Could he see their eye color, their build, height?"

"They were the same height, pretty well built, but he couldn't see their eyes up close," Esposito replied. He then said, "They have the footage inside the office here ready to go, do you want me or Ryan to look-"

"We'll go right now and watch," Beckett cut him off with. "But I want you to stay here with CSU, see what they can tell you Espo."

"Right," Esposito said, looking at Ryan questioningly.

Shaking his head, Ryan followed Beckett to the elevators, understanding the unconcious reason he was going with her. He was in a way a connection to her fiancé since he'd known about them being together for so long. He didn't begrudge her wanting that in some way, since he had been able to tell as he'd watched Castle and Beckett through their relationship that they'd become closer and closer. That led him to ask, "How are you holding up?" as they were going down in the car alone.

"I'm not," Beckett said. "Not that you can see that," she said. "I just need to bring him home."

Nodding, Ryan followed her down to the lobby where they asked the guard where the security office was. Inside he told the guard, "I can handle the player," before the man left. He closed the door and watched as Beckett leaned against the wall, watching him play the footage.

Her eyes remained on the screen as she saw her fiancé walk in and pause for a moment, Beckett wasn't surprised when Ryan looked at her and told him, "He said sometimes the secretary came in later." She hadn't looked away from the TV, so she watched Castle knocking on the door before going inside and then closing the door. She frowned when a figure came out from the left and said, "That closet."

"Yeah, CSU is looking at it too," Ryan assured her.

On the screen, Castle pulled the door open, and Beckett winced as her fiancé nearly went head first into the desk before grabbing onto it. She held herself tense while she watched as Castle tried to get away to the door after getting punched and shoved to the floor. She bit her lower lip as he reached the door, but as soon as he had, the man lunged for him, punched him and grabbed his head, slamming it onto his knee. She could see the blood spurting from it though the angle wasn't letting her see her fiancé's face. Someone opened the door and stepped in, coming up behind Castle to grab him by the head, pulling him back enough to smother his bloody face in a rag before his body went lip. She could taste the coppery tang of blood on her tongue, and realized she'd bit through her skin. She felt a sickening lurch in her stomach a second before the two men were rolling Castle into the rug, his body motionless, and she turned, almost running out of the room.

"Kate!" Ryan called as he ran to the doorway, seeing Beckett heading into the restroom. He frowned and looked over at the screen, sighing as he couldn't blame her for her reaction, not knowing what he'd do if it was Jenny being transported on the cart, wrapped in a rug. He called the security guard back over, and started getting everything he would need to take back to the station.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Beckett dried the blood that had begun to run from her lip again after splashing her face with cold water several times. She had managed to calm down some after getting away from the image of her fiancé's body being thrown on the cart, so she was beginning to feel more anger than fear. Touching a single pearl of blood that had built up on her lower lip, she wiped it away with the paper towel she held, and throwing it away so hard it bounced right out of the trash she strode out into the lobby, telling Ryan who met her there, "We need to get back to the station, and I need to call Martha and Alexis before Reynolds calls and tells me what he wants."

* * *

"Detective Beckett," Gates said, standing in the doorway of the conference room. "I told Ryan and Esposito to send you to my office, is there any reason you're still here?"

"I'm sorry sir, I needed to call Castle's daughter and mother, apprise them of the situation," Beckett said, putting her phone in her pocket. "They're not together, so I had to make two separate calls."

"As did I, the mayor is furious right now, wondering what the hell Reynolds wants with Mr. Castle," Gates said. "Is it to get to you?"

"I think so," Beckett said simply. "I expect some kind of demand from him, since he could have beaten up Castle far worse than he did on the footage."

"Beckett," Ryan said when the phone on her desk started to ring.

Running to it, Beckett picked it up and when Ryan nodded, said cautiously, "Hello?"

"Hello Katherine," a distorted voice said on the other end.

"Reynolds?" Beckett asked quickly.

"Call me whatever you'd like," the voice commented. "It won't matter in the end. You're missing something, aren't you?"

"What do you want me to do to get him back to his family?" Beckett asked, glancing at Gates who was standing next to her.

"Well, there are many things, but since I know your boss is likely there and this will be recorded, I'll keep it simple; you Katherine," the voice said.

"You want to make an exchange?" Beckett asked.

"No, no, I want to see how far you'll go, how much you'll do to get your partner back," the voice replied. "I want you here, to see what I have done."

"Not until I know that he's okay," Beckett said quickly. "Let me talk to Castle." She didn't think he would agree to it, but a second later she heard the man talking, voice muffled and she braced herself.

"Kate?" Castle asked.

"Castle, you-" Beckett said quickly in relief as he sounded okay.

"Kate, it's-" Castle started to say before he was pulled off the phone.

"There you are, I kept my word, and you? Will you do the same, upstanding member of the NYPD you're purported to be Katherine?" the man asked, his voice distorted again.

"Where do you want me to go?" Beckett said.

"Go to the abandoned warehouse at the corner of Wharf and Point Street tomorrow, at eight," the man said. "And if you're going to try and find me there now, you'll be sadly disappointed and I'm afraid you'll never see him again, the Hudson is inviting this time of year Katherine. Eight tomorrow."

Beckett held the receiver as she lowered it from her ear, gripping it so tightly that her knuckles were white. She looked at Gates and said, "I'll go tomorrow sir."

* * *

"Well, she'll take the bait, exactly what he wanted," the man said as he hung up the phone. "And they'll find him before they get to me, so I'm sure she'll come racing to me."

"Who are you working for? Why do this?" Castle asked.

"For her," the man said, rolling his eyes. "For someone who's supposed to be intelligent you're proving to be pretty easy to stay a step ahead of. I've managed to so far, which is working great for me. And him too."

"Who's him?" Castle asked, getting frustrated. "Do you have multiple personality disorder, or are you justifying this by making someone up?"

"Oh no, you misunderstand me, I love her, far more than you could," the man said, looking at the knife in his hand and tossing it to the wall covered in pictures. "But I was taught some much needed lessons, and there I owe someone a favor. So I'm only a part of the plan," the man said. When Castle started to talk again he rolled his eyes and took the nightstick he'd received, swinging it at the man and striking him on the cheek as Castle tried to avoid him without any luck. While he was recovering, the man forced him up, and with a sharp backhand to Castle's face, got him to stumble into the small room.

Hitting the wall with his shoulder hard, Castle could feel the paper cut to his cheek as he nearly slid to the floor. Just managing to keep from doing to, he pushed himself up using the wall, and looked around, grateful for a light. Though when he saw his surroundings, he suddenly wished for the dark, seeing the pictures everywhere around him.

* * *

"Do you honestly expect me to let you go, alone, to speak with Reynolds?" Gates asked after she'd taken Beckett, Ryan and Esposito into her office so everyone else on the floor couldn't hear their discussion.

"I think it's pretty much implied that if he sees SWAT going in my place or anyone else, Castle will be killed," Beckett said.

"And if you're hurt or killed?" Gates said.

"You heard him, he's apparently in love with me, and I don't think killing me or hurting me is part of his plan," Beckett said.

"Unless you do something to make him change his mind," Gates replied. "I cannot have you under that much risk Beckett."

"We'll go with her," Esposito said then.

"That's right, we'll take Thomas and Grayson, and keep a low profile," Ryan said. "We can scan the building remotely from here, and put ourselves in the best place possible to keep an eye on her."

"And I'll be wired," Beckett said, throwing that in there since she thought Gates might agree with that.

Breathing out, Gates said, "Alright, I see no choice but to do what this man wants, and to try and keep the Precinct clear of any accusations we didn't do anything to keep Mr. Castle from being harmed. But you will take a team with you, keep them back enough. Stake out the building here Esposito, draw up a plan and submit it to me today."

"Yes sir," he replied before leaving the office.

"Ryan, tell me what was found at the apartment Reynolds used with the service girl and the publisher's office," Gates said.

"Little evidence at the first place, according to the landlord, the person who owns it, a Ralph Waits, is not a person who goes to Europe, he just comes and goes," Ryan said. "Which leads me to believe it could be the partner we saw in the security footage at the building."

"Any way to ID him?" Gates asked.

"No sir," Ryan said. "He's always turned away of from the cameras in the lobby and elevators, he knows where they are. And searching his name, it seems legit, but there isn't much activity with it."

"Have you talked to Reynolds' friends about who this partner could be?" Gates then inquired.

"No, they were aware of each other, but never anyone outside Reynolds' group of friends," Ryan said. "And CSU couldn't find much in the way of physical evidence, so he likely cleaned up after himself."

"Alright, and the office," Gates then said, sitting down.

"Much like the apartment," Beckett said quickly as the sense of unease she'd been having for nearly a quarter of an hour was still bothering her though she'd tried to ignore it. "No evidence except for the footage and Castle's blood."

"Have you been able to determine what exactly it is that's made him snap to this degree?" Gates asked them both.

"His friends don't know, his family definitely doesn't know," Ryan said. "But we could try and talk to Daisy again."

"Do that," Gates said. "Beckett, I would ask-" She was interrupted when the detective's phone rang and watched as she took it out of her pocket.

"It's my daughter's school," Beckett replied, looking suddenly concerned. She was relieved when Gates nodded, and she hurried to the break room, answering it with a rushed, "Beckett?"

"Ms. Beckett, I'm sorry this is Ms. Graham from the camp, I needed to call and let you know that your daughter was injured ten minutes ago during recess," the woman on the other end said.

"Oh god, is she alright?" Beckett asked, feeling as if she'd been punched in the stomach at that news.

"She was playing four square and was hit in the face with a ball, her nose was bleeding, but she's alright, just very upset and asking for her mother," Graham said quickly.

"I'll be there if I can," Beckett said, hanging up her phone. She went to Gates' office and in the open doorway stood there and said, "I need to go home sir, my daughter was injured playing, and she's asking for me."

"I was going to tell you to go home anyways," Gates commented, not looking up from the paperwork in front of her. "You're at risk since Reynolds is targeting you, and so is your daughter. Go home, there will be a detail on you, but you'll come back here tomorrow. Detective Esposito will call to let you know the plans for tomorrow morning."

"Thank you sir," Beckett said with a nod. She was about to turn and go, when Gates stopped her.

"Is she okay?" the captain asked, looking up and over her glasses.

"Yes, just a bloody nose, but she's apparently upset," Beckett said. When Gates nodded, she left, going to Ryan and Esposito who were looking at the screen on the latter's desk. "Guys, Gates-" she started to say.

"We know," Esposito said. "She told us when you were in there on the phone."

"Is Julia okay?" Ryan asked.

Beckett quickly explained what had happened, and then told them, "I need the detail to go to Castle's."

"It'll be LT and Rizzio tonight, Thomas went out not too long ago," Ryan said. "Thinks he's coming down with something."  
"Thank you," Beckett said in relief. "Have you started trying to find where the call originated?"

"I got it to tech, they're working on it now," Esposito said. "And I'll call you the second they find anything. Same for when I figure out how to go in."

Looking at the building on the screen, Beckett said, "How will I know where to go?"

"I'm assuming he'll call you to wherever he is," Esposito said. "He's going to have Castle with him, so he'll use that to lure you. Luckily these windows are pretty big, so you'll have eyes on you the second you step inside. The six of us there will be watching you every step."

"What about the message that Castle got from his publisher?" Beckett asked after nodding.

"Tech took a look at the number, it's legit, and they took a look at Zweig's phone, but there was no message," Ryan answered. "How long were they talking?"

"It was just Zweig's message and Castle replying yesterday," Beckett said. "But considering Reynolds broke into the loft, I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to get his hands on Zweig's phone and sent the messages before deleting them."

"More than likely, but it's either Reynolds or his partner," Esposito reminded her.

Nodding in agreement, Beckett then said, looking around before finally chancing it, her voice a low whisper, "We're getting married the seventeenth."

Sharing a look with each other before looking up at Beckett, Ryan and Esposito were a little speechless before they understood why she was telling them that.

"We'll get him back," Ryan said firmly, Esposito nodding at the same time to agree with him.

"Go get Julia, take her home and keep her safe, because if he's trying to get you alone, you don't know what Reynolds might think of you having a daughter," Esposito said. "They'll keep close watch."

Beckett could only nod at that before she went to her desk and packed everything away in her bag, leaving down the stairs again as she wanted to get to Julia as soon as possible. While she was in a cab heading to her daughter's school, she made a call and said, "Lanie? Are you going to be busy in an hour? I need to talk."

* * *

"Lanie?" Martha asked as she opened the door and found the doctor on the other side.

"Beckett called me, she said she wanted to talk," Lanie replied, stepping inside. "Jim," she said, seeing her friend's father coming down the stairs with Alexis.

"She's putting Julia down for a nap," Jim said as Castle's daughter ran to the doctor and hugged her tightly.

"How are you doing sweetie?" Lanie asked.

"I'm okay, but I'm really worried about Beckett," Alexis said. "She's holding the weight of the world on her shoulders, taking my dad's kidnapping seriously. She thinks because this guy wants her, he's taking it out on him."

Lanie nodded, not very surprised and asked, "Has anything been found out? I know she got a call, they had to have traced it by now."

"Unfortunately no," Beckett said, coming down the stairs then. She smiled slightly as they all looked at her, but it was a brief flash that didn't have much humor in it, more her going through the motions. "Esposito called and said the phone was a land line, but with so high tech a scrambler he called the CIA, but they couldn't tell him why the signal was coming from New Zealand."

"New Zealand?" Lanie said in surprise. When Beckett nodded she said, "How's Julia, did you tell her?"

"We did," Beckett replied. "We had to tell her, she needed to know, and… we told her."

Frowning at that, Lanie went to her friend and took her arm, leading her to Castle's office saying, "Can someone make her something to drink?"

"Tea, I don't need to be any more wired than I am," Beckett said back to Alexis who was in the kitchen. She sat down on one of the armchairs as Lanie closed the door, wrapping her arms around her bent knees. "We decided Lanie," she told her friend.

"Decided what?" the doctor asked as she pulled the other armchair over to sit across from her friend.

"The seventeenth," Beckett said simply.

"For your wedding?" Lanie asked. When she nodded, the doctor then said, "Kate-"

"I had to tell the boys first, but it was only because I remembered," Beckett said. She gave a short, mirthless laugh and told her friend, "It came to me all of a sudden," looking up unseeingly at the ceiling. "We're going to be getting married in twenty four days, and my fiancé has been kidnapped."

"Kate, this isn't like you," Lanie said sternly, speaking that way because she was disturbed by her attitude. "You've never given up, why are you doing that now?"

"Because he wants me Lanie, you should have heard him over the phone, he doesn't care about Castle at all," Beckett told her. "It's just a means to get to me, he wants me there. What if he kills Castle so he has me all to himself? I don't think…" she started to say, allowing herself for the first time to think about what would happen if it came to that. She felt the tears she'd managed to keep at bay until then flood her eyes, she fought against them pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes, but two slid down her cheeks when she felt Lanie hugging her tightly, and that was all she could take.

Feeling tears in her own eyes as she heard Beckett breaking down, Lanie couldn't imagine what her friend was going through, first facing Castle nearly going to jail, saved at the last minute and having him back for not even a day before he was taken away from her yet again and far worse than jail would have been. She murmured comfortingly to Beckett, having to shake her head at Alexis who tried to come in with a mug, before she heard someone running to them through the open door. "Kate," she said quickly, knowing who it was by the soft patter of small feet.

"Mommy!" Julia cried, running straight into her mother's arms and sobbing. "Mommy…"

"Sweetie," Beckett said softly as she fought to stop her tears, picking her up and setting her on her lap. She found herself being the one to soothe then, trying to calm down her daughter and feeling her heart breaking at her daughter's cries as the little girl shook against her hard.

"Can't you find him Mommy?" Julia asked softly when she had finally stopped sobbing.

"I will," Beckett said, feeling that determination coming back to her after her momentary lapse. She kissed Julia cheeks and looked her square in the eyes telling her, "We'll find him, your uncles and I, and I'll bring him back home."

"Kay," Julia said before looking at Lanie.

"I know honey," the doctor said quickly. "And I understand, you want your daddy back don't you?" She leaned over and kissed Julia's forehead as she nodded rapidly before saying, "Why don't we all have something to drink okay? It'll help you calm down," addressing that mainly to the little girl.

"Please," Julia said softly. But she didn't take Lanie's outstretched hand, instead holding on to Beckett as they went to the table, sitting together and drinking. She was quiet as the others were talking, but finally she looked up at her mother, seeing that her own sadness she felt was in Beckett's eyes. Since she was still on her mother's lap, she snuggled up closer to her, wanting the comfort of one of her parents; just wishing that she had them both with her.

* * *

Lying on her back, Beckett looked up at the dome though there wasn't much to see with the night sky as dark as it was. She closed her eyes eventually, remembering the first time she'd seen that dome; the first time she'd been in the loft, remembering her fiancé dressed in his laser tag vest and headpiece. She suddenly saw flashes in her mind, of Castle with her the afternoon before, that morning in the tub. She smiled fondly as she felt him brushing his lips across her neck, and she sat up abruptly, not wanting to let her mind go down a line of thought that didn't include Castle in her future as it was tempted to do. She breathed out slowly, and then heard the pad of bare feet walking up behind her. "Julia," she said softly, turning and seeing her daughter there, without her Stitch doll in her arms.

"Mommy, you should be in bed," the little girl said, running over to her. She took her hand and pulled on it until she stood up, starting to lead her over to the bedroom before she found herself being lifted up. She pressed her face to her mother's neck, and felt safer, though there was still the ache inside her with Castle being gone.

Standing on the staircase, Martha waited until the two had disappeared into her son's room before she turned and went up, seeing Alexis in her doorway with Julia's doll in her hand. "They're sleeping in your father's room," she told her granddaughter.

"Is Beckett any better?" Alexis asked though she already knew the answer.

"No," Martha said with a sigh, frowning as she thought of how Beckett had been at dinner, barely eating, focusing more on Julia. She and Jim had tried to get her to eat, but hadn't met with too much success and they'd had to sit her down and remind her she needed to remember she had Julia to think of. That had seemed to reach her, but she knew emotionally her son's fiancée was still not doing well.

"She'll get him back," Alexis said.

"They already know where he'll be," Martha said, sighing again as she remembered the meeting they'd had with Ryan and Esposito that evening. The two had filled Beckett in on the plan to get her to the meeting with the killer safely, and also what they'd found out, which besides the call to Beckett coming from another country, was absolutely nothing, as well as not finding a trace of the man's partner or a car or van that took Castle from his publisher's building. "And I get the feeling he's worth more alive now. If this former officer knows Beckett; and it sounds like he does; he'll know she'll go to the ends of the earth to find him if he hurts your father," she told her granddaughter as she hugged her tightly.

"I'm still surprised sometimes that she's in love with him this much," Alexis confessed.

"Oh, there's more to them than just being engaged," Martha said, smiling for a brief moment. She then quickly told Alexis about the conversation she'd had with Beckett right after Julia was put to bed, having pulled her to Castle's office to do so.

* * *

_"What is it you want to tell me?" Martha asked as Beckett leaned against her son's desk before suddenly standing up._

_"Do you remember if your parents ever had a connection?" Beckett suddenly blurted out, not sure how to start at first._

_"I don't know, if they did, my mother never told me, she was the opposite of my father," Martha replied. "Luckily not so much they didn't love each other. But are you asking me if I think you and Castle do?"_

_"No, I'm telling you I think we do," Beckett said. She quickly said, "It was as I was looking into Reynolds, and I just felt something was wrong. I passed it off as being a part of the case, and kept working. But eventually… I started calling Castle and got no answer."_

_"And that's when you went to the office," Martha said. When Beckett nodded she sighed and said, "I take it from your tone of voice that you don't think you had this moment of sensing something was wrong with your fiancé."_

_"I don't believe in that sort of thing, but… it was at the exact time he was going into the office," Beckett said. "I don't really know what to think."_

_"Richard," Martha started to say before she paused. "Richard has told me you don't believe in what he does. You don't believe in soul mates; don't get angry at me for saying this; but is that because you've never found yours?"_

_"I, I don't think so," Beckett said, shrugging. "But the idea of two people that connected is just difficult to believe, we're just humans, not superheroes or something extraordinary."_

_Martha couldn't help smile at how much she was denying it, so she finally told Beckett, "Then I want you to look at how you were today, once you discovered Richard was taken. What is your mind making up as a worst case scenario? Are you seeing him hurt, injured… worse," she ended on a whisper, her voice becoming choked up with emotion at the thought._

_"I…" Beckett said, closing her eyes tightly as she leaned against the desk again._

_"We're human, but we love," Martha said, going to her future daughter in law and putting her arm around her. "And sometimes we're lucky to love deeply, don't let it scare you because there's a chance you might lose it. Take what you can, and enjoy it to its fullest. And if you have this connection with Richard, so much the better, you'll be an amazing husband and wife together. And I know you'll bring him back Kate, so when you do, tell him, let him know that you finally understand what a soul mate is, because you've found yours."_

_Her eyes teary, Beckett looked at her and nodded, before giving her a slight smile whispering, "Thank you Martha," before she hugged her tightly._

* * *

"So she believes just like that?" Alexis asked in surprise.

"Not just like that, but she's on her way to embracing the idea that her life is so connected to your father's," Martha said. "So she'll be determined to bring him home to us. Now go to sleep darling, we'll all need to rest."

"He knows we love him right?" Alexis said, going back to her room after exchanging another hug with her grandmother.

"All of us, even Julia," Martha assured her. When Alexis had closed her door, she sighed, feeling exhausted all of a sudden, hoping that she was right.

Inside Castle's room, Beckett was approaching the bed when she asked, "Are you okay?"

Julia nodded, not wanting to tell her mother she was tired, even though she was feeling scared and very sad. She hadn't slept for long, missing her customary goodnight kisses from both her mother and Castle. Though she'd felt the love of her family and her aunt and uncles; not everyone was there, and it didn't feel right. Her mother, sister and grandfather hadn't told her where Castle was; just that he couldn't come home yet.

Julia knew that something bad had happened long before they had told her, it was why she hadn't paid attention when she was playing at school, and had been hit in the face during four square. She sniffed then, as she had begged for her mother since she had hoped with her there, that feeling wouldn't be real, but she had been right. She kissed her mother's cheek as she laid her down on the bed, and she watched Beckett climb in next to her, keeping away from Castle's side. She could see her mother looked tired and very sad and trying not to cry she asked her, "Can you tell me a story Mommy?"

"I think so, what do you want me to tell you?" Beckett whispered, stroking Julia's hair tenderly, kissing the top of her head.

"What it was like when you and Castle first met," the little girl said, peering up at her mother, wondering if she shouldn't have asked that.

Beckett was going to try and tell another story, but she then said, "We met because of a case you know that." She felt Julia's nod as she put her chin on top of her daughter's head, and continued with, "I just asked him some questions about his books and people who liked his books. I thought after that I wouldn't see him again, but then he asked to help out with the case," there she stopped, smiling widely in remembrance at her fiancé back then, unable to help it.

"Did you want him there?" Julia asked, seeing that smile.

"No, I thought he was going to get in my way and not help at all," Beckett said.

"Did he?" Julia said, smiling a little herself.

"Believe it or not he was sweetie," Beckett said, kissing her forehead. "And he did help solve the case. And then I really thought that I wouldn't see him again, but pretty soon after that, I found him in my boss's office, and found out he was basing a character on me, and that was it."

"When did you fall in love with him?" Julia whispered, not surprised when her mother's voice trailed off.

"I don't know sweetie, I just… realized that I was trying to hide what I felt about him, and then pretty quickly after realized that what I felt for him was that, I loved him," Beckett replied, closing her eyes.

"He'll come back Mommy," Julia said, hoping her mother wouldn't start crying. "And when he does you'll get married and then we'll be together and not have to hide, and then we will be happy."

"I know," Beckett said with a soft smile at her daughter's exuberance. "But for now you should sleep okay?"

"Will you sleep?" Julia asked.

"Yes," Beckett assured her. She shared a kiss with her and after they murmured to each other, she watched her fall asleep relatively quickly after that. She cuddled Julia close to her, stroking her hair and remembering her first case with her fiancé. She sighed as she couldn't help but wince inwardly at recalling how angry she had been at Castle then, but she guessed that even then she was trying to deny her attraction to him.

It was then she remembered when they had said goodbye to each other that morning, and Beckett suddenly felt a strong sense of relief that she had told him she loved him. They didn't always do that, their kisses goodbye were supposed to stand in for that, so she wondered if something deep down inside her had guessed that without Reynolds in custody, she had believed Castle was in danger still. But she shook her head, thinking it was more likely that she had remembered the day before and their finally settling on a wedding date.

At that, she held up her hand from under the bed sheet, looking at her engagement ring she'd put on the second she was back home, Beckett studying the three diamonds for a moment. She then lowered it, glancing down at Julia as she felt that sense of determination again. She would find Castle, bring her fiancé and daughter's father home, and they would turn their attention to the wedding. She relaxed slightly, but was unable to do so completely, as she couldn't help think of him then, wondering where he was, if he was okay. She lay perfectly still, soon falling asleep, but just before she did, she hoped he was alright and knew that she loved him, her sleeping mind taking that and making her dream of their time together; a torment and a joy all at once.


	9. Just Wanna Stay Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Scared by John Lennon, from his album Walls and Bridges.

Pushing himself up after having been seated cross legged on the floor, Castle strode around the room to get the feeling of pins and needles out of his legs. It took a while to do that though, since the room; more of a closet; was not large enough for him to stretch out his long legs. But finally he felt better, though he was keeping his gaze down to his chest, trying not to see what was around and below him.

There were pictures everywhere, of Beckett, him and Julia, sometimes just him with his fiancée, sometimes with them with their daughter. But they all had him and Beckett in them, and he finally forced himself to look at them though the realization of what he had been taken away from was hard to face, swallowing hard as he looked them over. The room was tall, and he was relieved to see the first wall held no scratched or cut out pictures as there had been outside.

Castle's mind wandered as he turned to the next wall, seeing the same, wondering if Beckett and the boys could trace where he was before the next morning. But considering who was holding him hostage; he didn't think so. So he studied the third wall, seeing all of them were perfect. But he could recognize when they were taken, and it gave him a chill realizing that they'd been followed for a very long time. He had to wonder how far back the pictures outside the room that he'd seen went. He looked at some of the pictures on the floor, the same as the ones on the wall with them as the subject.

Glancing at the door then, he went over to it, flexing his hands into fists and trying to move them through the handcuffs. But Castle knew from experience that it would be impossible to release himself from them. He then wished he'd paid attention to the aspiring locksmith years ago who'd tried to teach him to get free from handcuffs; though when he'd been trying to learn they'd been on him in front. He debated opening the door and trying to whirl back around so he could see in front of him, but ruled that out, since the door was likely locked tight, and he had no way of checking to see if his kidnapper was in front of the door with a weapon. He turned around and debated hitting the door with his shoulder. But it would take time to recover if he managed to get the door down, and would give the kidnapper time to either kill him or severely wound him.

Castle nearly started to run to the door, but then paused, knowing it was too much of a risk to try. But then he glanced out of the corner of his eye at a picture of his fiancée and their daughter with him in Central Park, and he made up his mind. He needed to get back to his fiancée, his daughters, mother and everyone else he loved. Going up to the door, he pressed his shoulder, feeling which was the best way to hit it before he took a few running steps back. He then charged at it, turning at the last second, and finding himself rebounding off the door. He cursed as he almost felt like he'd dislocated his shoulder, and he scrambled to regain his balance hitting the wall behind him as the door opened.

"Interesting, I expected you to try that sooner," the kidnapper said, holding a gun aimed at Castle. "But even though that was a great try, no luck, I thought ahead and bought a reinforced oak door, so it won't budge. Go ahead though; try all night if you want to. I just have to wonder what I'll need to tell Katherine tomorrow if she finds you with your arms and legs dislocated." And with that he slammed the door shut, the sound of the three locks on it on the outside echoing in the room.

Feeling a chill going through him, Castle listened to the man talk to his fiancée, only able to make out her name but not much else. He knew he was talking to her though, and he finally gave up, knowing the kidnapper had planned well ahead. And looking at the pictures, he could easily guess that had been done for a very long time. Sliding down on the ground, Castle frowned as he looked down the wall in front of him, wondering if everyone in his family was okay. He knew they had to be worried about him, wondering what was going to happen to him. But eventually his gaze settled on his fiancée in one of the photographs.

Closing his eyes and leaning his head back, Castle wished desperately for telepathic powers right then, wanting to tell Beckett that besides being handcuffed and stuffed into a closet, that he was okay. He then realized what he and his fiancée had been doing in that picture and despite the dire straits he was in, he couldn't help smile as he recalled that day, a little bit after their first Christmas together. They'd gone walking together through the park, and as they came to a relatively deserted area, he remembered reaching down to the snow, and hitting his then girlfriend with a snowball.

Shaking his head of the rest of the memory of them fighting against each other playfully to keep from tormenting himself further, Castle glanced down at the pictures next to him on the floor, seeing one of him and Beckett at a playground with Julia. His eyes snagged on Julia, and it was then his breath became a little ragged, knowing that the little girl had to be aware of what was going on since he hadn't come home yet again. His heart broke as he could almost imagine what she was thinking scared he wasn't going to go back to her and her mother; why she still hadn't responded to his I love yous.

The adrenaline rush of the realization that he might not get to hear his youngest daughter ever call him daddy made him try to jump up. But Castle fell off balance, the attempt to knock down the door taking more of his energy than he wanted to admit, and he hit his cheek on the floor hard enough to cut the inside of it with his teeth. He spat out the blood, and shuddered as he'd seemed to taste nothing but that the entire day; assuming it was likely late. He couldn't help thinking of Alexis and his mother, hoping that everyone in his family was helping one another get through what was going on, through his absence. "I hope you're there with Kate and Julia, Jim," he murmured, looking up at the light, knowing if anyone could help comfort his fiancée, it was her father.

When a wave of fatigue hit him shortly after that, Castle knew it was late, and he lay back on the floor, unsure he'd be able to get much rest that night. But he knew he needed to; at the very least try to get some because he knew he'd need to be alert the next day. He got as comfortable as he could on his side before looking up at the wall again, and he mouthed 'I love you,' to his fiancée in one of the pictures again. That reminded him though that he'd said that to her, the last time he'd seen her. He was relieved they'd told each other that, but didn't want that in no way to be the last time he uttered those words to her, and not as just her fiancée, remembering the wedding in a little over three weeks.

Castle soon found himself starting to slowly drift off to sleep after looking over the pictures he could see from where he was laying. But one thing was going through his mind repeatedly; when Beckett had said she loved him that morning. He fell asleep thinking of that, not realizing it was going to influence his dreams, not even knowing he could dream considering he was utterly clueless as to what was going to happen to him. But he dreamt of his fiancée, and the sweet moment of hearing her utter those three words to him for the very first time.

* * *

_"You think you can honestly beat me?" Castle asked his girlfriend, raising an eyebrow in her direction._

_"I think it's possible," Beckett said, smiling at him as she considered the chessboard. "Funny we never played again after going to that park," she commented._

_"That's because you'd known then I'd be victorious," Castle commented, sipping his wine._

_"Keep telling yourself that," Beckett said, rolling her eyes and moving a knight._

_Castle frowned at that, and then quickly moved a pawn, letting her capture it a moment later. That left his queen wide open, and he was able to move it in such a way that as he looked at her considering what that had done, he knew she realized he'd won._

_"This won't be the last time we play this Castle," Beckett said, moving her last knight in a desperate attempt but losing the game in the end as he took her king._

_"Still, a pretty good game," he replied as he picked up the pieces and put them inside the box the board was the top of. "And we should play again; I'd love to find out what you'll do when you win."_

_"I'm sure you would," Beckett replied, getting off the chair at the table by the windows._

_"Come here," Castle said, taking her hand and leading her over to the middle of the living room, squeezing her hand. He took the remote to the music that had been playing while they'd been engrossed in chess, and he changed the song playing to something much slower._

_Beckett smiled, not really waiting for her boyfriend to put that remote back in his pocket before she had her arms wrapped around his neck tightly and they began to sway. As they were dancing, she pressed her cheek to his, not even really paying attention to the song. She was content to let him lead, and finally, as the last of the music faded away, she realized what she wanted to do, and pulled away to look into his eyes._

_"Kate-" Castle started to say, startled at the look in her eyes as she was somber._

_Kissing him gently, Beckett wanted to silence him before she became lost in him. That kiss went on for longer than she'd wanted, but finally she pulled away and cupping his face in her hands whispered, "I love you Rick."_

_His heart beating rapidly in his joy the instant he heard her say that for the first time, Castle pressed his forehead against hers as he enveloped her even tighter in his arms. "I love you too Kate," he said sincerely before they were suddenly smiling at each other. He then leaned down, and carefully took her lips with his, her response to his kiss seeming to cement the words as they never stopped swaying gently together in their slow; soon sensuous; dance._

* * *

While the dream was a comfort for Castle, his memories of it the next morning waking up, seeing he was still stuck inside the tiny room; not a nightmare that felt so real he could have laughed over it with Beckett after making love to her; made it an agony to recall the dream and the memory it had encapsulated. But it fed the determination inside him and before the door opened, he whispered, "I love you Kate," staring at a picture of her in his arms from around the same time she'd first told him she loved him, turning to his kidnapper, poised as the man's shadow strode inside towards him, covering him in its darkness.


	10. Just Manage To Survive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Scared by John Lennon, from his album Walls and Bridges.

" _Mommy_?"

Turning as the whisper broke the absolute silence of the bedroom, Beckett paused while putting her hair into a ponytail, seeing that Julia was sitting up in the bed. "Sweetie, it's very early, you need to go back to sleep," she said, going over to her.

"I can't, is Castle back?" Julia whispered again.

"No, I'm going to leave right now to get him," Beckett told her, smoothing down her daughter's sleep mussed hair. "Do you want to go with Alexis?"

"I don't wanna sleep," Julia said, sounding tearful as she shook her head. "Let me go with you Mommy, please."

"I can't Julia," Beckett said soothingly as she picked her up. "My job is no place for a little girl."

"What if you need help? I can try to help like Castle does," Julia said, pressing her cheek to her mother's.

Understanding then what Julia was trying to do, Beckett kissed her temple, lingering for a moment before she pulled away to tell her, "I'll be okay, and I'll have your uncles with me to help."

"To get Castle?" Julia asked.

"To get…" Beckett started to say as she stepped out into the living room.

"We couldn't sleep anymore," Alexis said, smiling weakly as she sat at the table with her grandmother.

"Some tea might help relax us," Martha said. "Are you going?"

"I need to get ready and Esposito's going to brief everyone involved before we go," Beckett said. She went over to the table and as she handed Julia to Martha she saw a to go cup on the counter. "Coffee?"

"No, tea as well, we thought you could use something soothing too," Alexis said as she reached over and squeezed Julia's arm.

"Thank you," Beckett said. "I'll call," she said simply before going over to the closet to get a jacket before she went back to Julia. "I'll talk to you then sweetie, okay?"

"Kay, but… be careful Mommy, and make sure Castle is too," the little girl begged her.

"I know," Beckett said before she shared a kiss with her daughter. She nodded to Martha as her fiancé's mother squeezed her arm once, looking over at Alexis who was giving her a very shaky smile. Taking the tea, she left, slinging her work bag over her shoulder as her steps were quick and loud in the empty hallway. She took a sip of the drink, the herbs not doing much in the way of calming her down, her entire body tense with uncertainty, thinking of Castle and hoping that he was alright.

* * *

"Okay, video feed is on," Ryan was saying in the back of the van as they were heading to the warehouse.

"Nothing was found last night?" Beckett asked.

"No, good thing though, because Gates would have killed us if she found out we had Tebo out there," Esposito said. The night before, after he and Ryan had left Castle's loft, he'd asked the retired officer and friend of his to scout the building though it was incredibly dangerous to do so. "But since Reynolds had the fence wired up we're lucky Tebo couldn't get in there."

"I'll have to thank him," Beckett said, distracted with putting the wire through her blouse. "This isn't recording right?"

"If I see you able to get to Castle," Ryan told her, nodding when she tapped his shoulder to check how she'd placed the microphone. "And Reynolds is no longer a threat, whoops, lost the signal," he continued, pretending to jerk his arm over the buttons bringing the feed of the sound and visual to the van.

Beckett nodded to him gratefully and then said, "Is SWAT ready?"

"All set, and we'll have an ambulance on stand-by as soon as you leave the van," Esposito said. "So do you have everything set?"

"Yeah, I go in, Reynolds will know I'm there, and he'll likely call me to him," Beckett said. "Grayson will search through the windows in the parking structure to see if he can find him, and hopefully Castle too. I'll go in, and if I need you guys, I'll say my dad's name."

"Sure you want to use that as an alert?" Ryan asked.

Shrugging, Beckett felt the van slowing down, and felt the knot in her stomach growing tighter; the tea Alexis had made her doing little to ease her tension. She stepped out and turned to Esposito who'd come with her. "Are we good?" she said back to Ryan.

"We're good," he called.

"It's right there," Esposito said, pointing to the building next to the one they'd stopped in front of. "Remember, we'll be on the bottom floor of the parking structure until you're inside and we can be sure that Reynolds' attention is on you," he told her as she was putting on her vest.

"Are there any snipers?" Beckett asked once she'd finished and Ryan told her the wires were fine.

"None, I promise," Esposito said. "But if I need to-"

"No, I don't want to risk Castle's life," Beckett said immediately. "I need to get him out alive. What about Reynolds' partner?"

"Nothing on that," Ryan said, coming to the door. "There was some money, about five thousand in that second account under Reynolds' name he used for that sting two years ago; what we told you last night. If he had a partner, it's likely he hired him. It's almost eight Beckett."

Without a word, Beckett turned and left them, walking over to the address Reynolds had given her the day before, her heels sounding impossibly loud on the sidewalk as that area of the city was nothing but old buildings, a warehouse and the lone parking structure that was a place for transients and drug dealers. Looking around her, she could see an unmarked car heading to the parking structure, and knew it was the van getting into position. Brushing her fingers against her gun holstered to her thigh, she sped up her pace a little more, soon seeing the only warehouse with large windows, recognizing it from the day before.

"Esposito," the detective said in the van as his phone rang.

"What?" Ryan turned to his partner at the man's shocked tone in that question and quickly checked back on the video feed from Beckett to make sure she was still walking before he looked back as Esposito hung up the phone. "What happened?" he asked.

"That was Karpowski, they found Reynolds an hour ago," Esposito told him. "He was floating in the Hudson, shot to death."

Reaching the fence around the building, Beckett saw a gate, and went over to it, waiting for an alarm to go off. But when there was no sound, only the creak of the wind blowing the gate open further in front of her, she stepped inside, leaving it open. She glanced up at the windows, which were intact, trying to discern some kind of movement from the shadows inside, though she wasn't expecting Reynolds to be that obvious. Going in, she saw there was only one room in the warehouse, and she was alone. Turning to look for stairs, she heard a voice coming through the steps behind her.

"We're up here Katherine," the voice said.

Frowning as the voice was definitely not Reynolds', Beckett withdrew her gun, and started up, pressing back against the wall and watching as she came to the second floor. She saw a figure pacing back and forth further down the large room, and said, "Rey…" before the officer's name died in her throat.

"Oh holy shit," Esposito said as Officer Thomas swore behind him and Ryan.

"Rizzio," Beckett said, getting over her shock when she saw the rug behind the man. "You're the killer."

"Kidnapper too," Rizzio said. "I'm sorry about the gun, but you know, I had a feeling Esposito might have tried to work his way into the plans to find me."

"You've been sick," Beckett said.

"Yeah, for a long time, remember back at the Academy? First time I saw you Katherine, and I've been sick ever since," Rizzio replied. "Not that eloquent, but I'll learn."

"Where's Castle?" Beckett asked, ignoring him.

"So that's all you came here for? Not even to see me?" Rizzio asked. He made a tsking sound and shook his head. "I had a feeling, he told me, warned me you might not want anything to do with me because of the writer. But I owed him, so here you are."

Beckett was cursing the gap in the floor in between them then, as she watched the officer go around to the rug behind him and kick it open. Her hands on her gun tightened when she saw her fiancé's bloodied face as his unconcious body rolled almost to the edge of the floor.

"Sorry about his face, but he was a little… I guess you want to call it belligerent this morning when I got him out of the room he spent the night in," Rizzio said. "Now, Katherine, you have a choice here, stay with me, or go with your partner," he said, nearly spitting out the word partner as he took the safety off his gun and aimed it down at Castle.

"You want me to make a choice?" Beckett said, not really sure what she could do as she couldn't jump over to their side.

"Grab that board behind you," Rizzio said, nodding to it.

Glancing back, Beckett hesitated, not sure if he wanted to try and disarm her, or wanted her over on that side to keep talking to her. She decided to take the risk and take the opportunity she'd been given to get as close to her fiancé as she could. She put her gun back and went to the board before she turned around, dropping it and withdrawing her weapon.

"Damn it," Esposito said in the van. "I could try-" he told Ryan.

"And if you missed? Beckett would kill you," the detective replied. "Just have SWAT ready to go in."

"Let him go," Beckett was saying, aiming her gun at Rizzio's head since he was holding Castle up in front of him.

Not replying, Rizzio kept his eyes on Beckett, but let her see that his finger was on the trigger. "Bring the board over here, or I'll blow his brains out."

Beckett suddenly reached behind her, and pulled the wire on her for sound out of the pack in her back pocket. She was able to speak and she said to Rizzio, "If you hurt him-"

"That's if you don't do what I asked," Rizzio told her simply. "The board Katherine, now or else your wedding is never going to happen." He caught the falter in Beckett's turn to the board, and taunted her saying, "I knew about that already, you really honestly thought I was just going to stand by and let you ruin your life. You never even look at me, but you know already that we're soul mates Katherine, we-"

Beckett had dropped the board as loudly as she could over the gap in the floor at his use of the term; what she'd talked about with Martha only the day before concerning her and Castle. She became furious at the man, wondering how he could assume she thought of him favorably in any way. Luckily the act of withdrawing her gun yet again was enough to calm her down and she said, "I rarely talk to you Rizzio, how can you be so sure?"

"I love you Katherine," the officer said, tapping the gun; his finger no longer on the trigger; against Castle's temple. "Since I first saw you and followed you to the 12th, but you didn't realize that did you? I watched those men come and go, never really understanding you, and wondered why you did that. You were waiting for me. But then he came along," he said, jerking Castle a little and making his head slump down before he pulled it back. "I found out you were engaged when I realized why the hell you'd been rubbing your thumb under your ring finger on the left. That was back in January, so probably after he asked you. So I decided, you needed to see that he was not the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, and got that ready.

"But you're a stubborn woman Katherine, and I couldn't get you to believe he was a killer," Rizzio said. "So I decided this was the better way to go. Just come over here, and we'll get out of the city, I have help, and we'll have a life together better than anything he could give-"

Beckett had only been listening with half an ear to Rizzio's delusions, waiting for the right moment, and right then, Castle's head had tilted to the side before rolling down and putting him off balance in Rizzio's hold, leaving her an opening. The fact that Rizzio's finger was back on the trigger was the final straw she needed, not wanting to tempt fate or be too slow to react should he try to shoot while trying to distract her. She shot, twice into the officer's shoulder, sending him and Castle flying back. "Shots fired, Rizzio is down, you need to get two ambulances in here Esposito," she said into her walkie talkie she'd brought with her.

"Call them in," Esposito said as Ryan was casually flicking the switch on the video feed off before they ran out of the van with Officer Thomas joining them.

Going across the board seemed to take ages for Beckett, but she was finally able to get to the other side, and she pushed Rizzio's body away from her fiancé before she turned her attention to him. "Rick?" she whispered, touching his face gently with her fingertips. There was no response, so she grabbed at his wrist, feeling his heartbeat steady; guessing he'd been knocked out before Rizzio had brought them there. She heard the sound of several people running into the building on the first floor, but didn't pay any attention to it as she studied her fiancé's face, trying to see if he was seriously injured. She had to wince as she touched his nose, it wasn't broken she could feel, but the blood staining his shirt let her know that he'd been hit there several times besides Reynolds slamming his knee into it.

"Beckett, is he alive?" Ryan asked, coming across the board since he was the lightest out of the six of them.

"Yeah, he's unconcious," Beckett said, looking over at him as he went to Rizzio and took someone's jacket, pressing it to the officer's shoulder. "We have to find Reynolds," she said, trying to get her mind back to the case though it was hard to do.

"He's dead, that money was likely from Rizzio," Esposito said as the officers with him left and went down to try and find a way for the EMTs to get up to the other side of the second floor. "Did you know him that well at the Academy? Graduated with you too right?"

"Yeah, he did, but I didn't really know him," Beckett said, looking around then herself to see where the paramedics could come to get her fiancé out of there. "He was very quiet."

"He and Reynolds friends?" Ryan asked.

"Not that I ever saw, but I was more focused on my training than anything else," Beckett said. She heard voices in front of them, and then got up; going over to the gate she'd seen on the other end. "Can they come up Thomas?" she yelled through the collapsible gate of a freight elevator.

"Yeah, we're letting them up at the same time," the officer yelled.

Turning around, Beckett was a little startled to find Esposito gone, but guessed he'd gone around to join the others once the EMTs were there. "How is he?" she finally asked Ryan about Rizzio.

"Clean shots, no major arteries hit, so he probably will pull through," the detective answered.

Watching as Ryan directed the first paramedic with the stretcher to Rizzio, Beckett watched the second man with one come over to her. "He's got some bruises and cuts, and he's unconcious," she told him as she stood aside and let him examine her fiancé. "Most likely because of chloroform." More people were coming up, some more paramedics, and Esposito arrived with Thomas and the other officers. "Is SWAT clearing the area?"

"Just in case there's anyone else involved," Esposito said, nodding. "Gates needs a statement from you, and we need to get Castle's statement too whenever he wakes up."

"Do you want me to give you mine now?" Beckett asked, watching as the paramedics with Castle waited behind the ones with Rizzio at the elevator.

"Go, it'll be easier for me to get yours at the same time," Ryan said.

"Thank you," Beckett said gratefully, squeezing his arm and then jogging after the two paramedics going inside the elevator with Castle. "I'm-" she started to say.

"I told them you've been trying to find me, you should come with," Castle said from the stretcher. He opened his eyes and looked into the smiling face of his fiancée saying, "Hey Kate."

"Hey," Beckett replied, squeezing his hand. "Okay?"

"Headache from the chloroform and the fight I didn't win before he knocked me out," Castle said on the ride down. "He was obsessed with you; I tried to tell you it was Rizzio but…"

"Shh, it's okay, we found you, and we have Rizzio," Beckett murmured.

"Did you shoot him?" Castle asked, studying her as they walked out to the gate.

"I had to, he was holding you at gunpoint," Beckett said. When she saw his concerned look she quickly said, "I had video on me when I was in there, and sound but I pulled it off. So I won't be sued again."

Nodding, Castle had to let go of Beckett's hand as he was put into the ambulance, but he then said, once they were on their way, "How's everyone?"

"Worried, but I'll call them while you're being looked at, we'll call them once Ryan gets our statements," Beckett said, watching him. She glanced at the paramedic that was working on her fiancé, and then took Castle's hand, squeezing it tightly as he entwined their fingers, feeling the relief hit her so strongly that it was almost draining, just thankful everything was finally over.

* * *

"Beckett," Ryan called as he walked down the hall to where she was talking with a doctor, nodding once at something the man said. "Hey, is he awake?"

"Yeah, sorry, he woke up when we were going into the elevator, I forgot to tell you guys," Beckett said, unable to help smiling. "He's fine if you're wondering why I look insanely relieved right now."

"I don't blame you; did you contact his mom and Alexis?" Ryan asked.

"Already done, and Julia too," Beckett replied.

"So hopefully they're alright now," Ryan said.

"They want to see him, I would like to go home with him, but first let's get this wrapped up. Does he have an officer outside the room he's been put in?" Beckett asked.

"Two, since Esposito and I agree he should have the numbers stacked against him," Ryan replied. "I saw what happened, but Gates is going to want to know in your statement what happened exactly."

"Sure," Beckett said, going to two chairs against the wall. She quickly told Ryan up to the point when she'd taken off the sound feed, saying when she finished, "I was probably overreacting, but I didn't want to chance Rizzio saying anything about our relationship."

"Well, since he talked about your engagement," Ryan commented. "I don't think I can blame you for doing that."

"Anything else?" Beckett asked.

"That's enough, I just need to talk to him now," Ryan said, nodding to the room across from them where Castle was.

"Can-" Beckett started to say as she jumped up when the doctor stepped back out into the hall.

"Go ahead, he's asking for you," the man said with a nod.

"Get me when he's ready to talk," Ryan said, getting his phone that was ringing.

"So they tell me I'm fine, just going to have some lovely bruises," Castle said. "I asked if they'd last for three weeks and he said maybe. So you'll be walking down the aisle to a man with possibly yellow patches of skin."

"Borrow your mom's pancake makeup," Beckett teased him. She smiled when he grabbed her hand; since he was sitting on the edge of the bed; and pulled her to him tightly. She sighed deeply as she hugged him back and said, "Ryan needs to talk to you."

"Just a quick one," Castle said. He was relieved when she kissed him, not minding it was fast and very gentle, just relishing the fact that he was still alive to do so. "Okay, let's go talk to him."

"Hey, so you're fine I'm guessing," Ryan said as the two came out to him.

"Fine, but I want to help out still," Castle said. "Just don't let Gates know for as long as you can."

"Sure, I need your statement," Ryan told him. "From what you can remember of the attack at the office to when you woke up on the stretcher."

Nodding, Castle explained going into his publisher's office, to waking up just before Rizzio had talked to Beckett at the station. "By the way, how come you couldn't track him, he was on the phone for a while," he paused to ask.

"Turns out the inventor of that new scrambler is from right here in NYC and a hired thief as well," Ryan said. "Robbery at the station picked him up, and Rizzio got the item from evidence; the guy's still in jail waiting for his trial, so the scrambler was never checked to make sure it was there."

"And he would have known where to get it," Beckett said. "Where did he keep you?"

"In a room… closet, he called it a room, said it was enough to pen me in, apparently he took a lesson from the way the prisoners were treated at Gitmo, he was rambling," Castle said.

"Were you able to move?" Beckett asked, a little disgusted hearing that.

"It wasn't that small," Castle assured her. "More like a standard closet. But I was able to walk around, lay down though I was curled up so much my chin was almost on my knees. I tried to break down the door, but he got reinforced oak, so that was out of the question." He paused to take a breath, debating at the same time whether he should tell his fiancée about the pictures, but decided not to.

"So you slept apparently," Ryan said, watching the two glance at each other.

"Not that well, but I did. The next morning he came in, and he had that damn rug he put me in going from the office to his place I'm assuming," Castle said angrily.

"How did you know about the rug?" Beckett asked him.

"Because I smelled like a new rug," Castle replied. "And when I refused to get up off the floor he used his nightstick slightly too liberally; his fists too. I've got a really nice bruise, right here," he told his fiancée, touching his side.

"Are they bruised?" Beckett asked, indicating his ribs.

"No, I'm fine," Castle said. "But he punched me enough times to almost take me out, and once I was down on the floor he stood with one foot on my back before he held some chloroform on a rag over my mouth, and that's the last I remember until I woke up."

"Okay," Ryan said. "I'll-" he began to say when his phone rang again. "It's Espo," he told them. "Yeah? You did, how… that would make sense, okay, I'll let them know and see if they'll want to go," he told his partner before hanging up. "They found where Rizzio kept you, they used the new app you have that can track your phone Castle even when it's turned off."

"I just got that five days ago, it's a like a high tech lojack," Castle explained. "I have other apps by the company, they just released that one and boy was it worth what I paid."

"I'll go check it out," Beckett said quickly. "I'll stop by the station to get my car."

"Me too," Castle said. When his fiancée turned to him, about to protest, he quickly told her, "I'm alright, I don't want to rest, I've been doing since he put me under."

"Your clothes?" Beckett then pointed out.

"You brought me some," Castle said simply. "They're at the Precinct right now."

"Did you?" Ryan asked, a little surprised to see Beckett's slight frown.

Sighing, Beckett said, "Okay, let's go. We'll meet you there Ryan."

When he'd left, Castle said, "We should call them on the way back."

"We're far enough away," Beckett replied since they were across the river as that was the closest hospital to where Rizzio had been. She took his hand before they got to the lobby, seeing a few reporters there and swearing under her breath.

"Back way," Castle said quickly as his fiancée was on her phone to call a cab. They waited by the loading docks at the cafeteria, and he took the chance to ask her, "So it was news?"

"I would assume, I haven't watched any TV or looked online," Beckett said. "You'll have to let me know what you find when you search yourself after this."

"Oh come on, like I would do that," Castle scoffed. When his fiancée just gave him a look he leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers saying, "I missed you love."

"So did I," Beckett whispered before she heard the cab coming up to them. She followed him into the backseat, and as they were on their way, called Alexis' number telling her fiancé, "They'll be home, they told me when I called them earlier they were going to stay until you got back."

"I hope they'll understand why I'm not going back yet," Castle said.

"Hey Alexis, yeah, he's here, hold on," Beckett said, seeing the young woman on the screen.

"Daddy! Oh god Dad, are you okay," Alexis cried, tears in her eyes as she saw her father's bruised and cut face.

"I'm fine sweetie, just minor flesh wounds, so no more worrying okay?" Castle told her.

"Are you still looking into the case?" Alexis asked as there was sudden whispering in the background on her end.

"Yeah," Castle said, sharing a look with Beckett.

"Will you watch him?" Alexis asked her dad's fiancée.

"Don't worry…" Beckett started to say as the screen suddenly shook. "Is that Julia?"

"Jules, hold on!" Alexis laughed, not too angry with her sister for doing that as she was glad to see how eager she was to talk to their dad. "Lemme just say one more thing." When the little girl had stopped she quickly said, "I love you Dad, and I can't wait until you come home."

"Me too," Castle said. "If you want to plan another surprise dinner, don't go crazy; just order some Dim Sum okay? And get a lot; we're inviting Lanie, Jenny and the boys."

"Sure, here's Julia," Alexis said.

"We are?" Beckett asked.

"Yep, plus we shouldn't keep Jenny in the dark anymore and should celebrate too," Castle commented. "But just dinner, I'm likely going to be exhausted later on."

"Me too," Beckett said. "Hey sweetie," she said when she saw their daughter on the screen.

"Hi Castle!" Julia cried, waving to them before the screen suddenly showed the ceiling as there was a thud.

"Hold on," Alexis called as she could hear her dad and Beckett laughing. "She was a little too exuberant with that wave; she dropped the phone on the table."

"Sorry," Julia said. "Hi Mommy, I'm happy to see you too. Are you kay?"

"I am now," Castle assured her. "And I've got some nice little cuts, but they don't hurt me; I promise."

"Kay, you are gonna come home right? You too Mommy?" Julia asked them.

"We will," Beckett said. "But we need to do just a little more work and then we'll be back to see you. If you heard Castle, we're going to have a big dinner tonight, so you need to help Alexis and Martha okay?"

"Kay, Martha wants to talk now," Julia said. "I'm happy you're okay and can come home again; Mommy too."

"I'm glad to hear that, I love you Julia," Castle said.

"I love you too sweetie," Beckett then added quickly.

"Love you Mommy!" Julia cried before she watched Alexis hand the phone to Martha.

"Oh Richard, you're sure you're alright?" his mother said in concern when she caught sight of her son's face.

"I am Mother," Castle said. "Just superficial luckily, but I will come home."

"I'll feel better once you do, but I know that Kate will take care of you," Martha said with a sigh. "I'll let you go," she said as she could hear Beckett talking in the background; to a taxi driver she assumed. "But we'll have a wonderful celebration for tonight."

"I'll look forward to it, don't forget to call Jim," Castle reminded her. "See you later Mother."

"Goodbye darling, Kate," Martha said. "Be safe."

"Definitely will be after that," Castle said with a nod, following Beckett out of the cab and into the station, relieved there weren't any reporters there to harass them as they went up the steps together and stepped into the lobby, not surprised nearly everyone turned to watch them as they walked to the elevator.

* * *

"Pretty surprised Gates didn't try to protest more than she did," Castle commented as they walked down the street to the address that Ryan had given them. "She… this is it?"

"I think so," Beckett said, seeing it was an abandoned apartment building. "What floor?"

"The first," LT said, standing guard at the door with Grayson. "But-"

Before the officer could continue, Beckett walked past him and headed through the lobby to the hallway beyond it. "What are you guys doing out here?" she asked Esposito and Ryan who were standing outside a room, noticing a pile of mousetraps down the hall.

"You don't want to go in," Esposito said. "Kate," he said quickly, putting his hand across the doorway to keep her from going in.

"Javi, move," Beckett said, a little surprised at his trying to stop her.

Looking at Castle, Esposito finally moved his arm, and said, "We searched around here, but there's not too much. It's a two bedroom place, he added the darkroom and the room where you were kept," directing the last to the writer.

Beckett was standing in place, staring at the pictures on the wall, two of the walls from ceiling to nearly the floor, turning as she saw they weren't just of her alone, but with past boyfriends with their faces scratched, and towards the bottom on that wall, she saw that there were pictures with cut out pieces. She stepped up to one, and saw Castle, scratched out from his head to just past his shoulders and Julia was completely gone. She breathed in once, and then turned, striding to the door, hearing Ryan and then Esposito calling to her. She ignored them, and didn't stop until she was outside; needing the fresh air she sucked into her lungs deeply.

Touching his fiancée's back, Castle wasn't surprised when she turned around and hugged him tightly, not caring LT and Grayson could see them. He then said, "It's over with you know, whatever he had in mind, you stopped him love."

"I know, it's just, those pictures went all the way back to the Academy," Beckett said. She shook her head saying, "I can't help being a little creeped out at the fact all these men seem to want me; Rizzio enough to want to kill you. But Julia? Why take her out."

"I think," Castle said, letting her go as she stepped away from him. "That he didn't want to kill her, just not take her when he talked to you about leaving the city," he said; since she'd told him what Rizzio had told her as he'd been unconcious.

"Well, I guess that's a positive," Beckett said angrily. "We need to go back."

"Sure?" Castle asked.

"That was a little too much at once," Becket assured him. "I'm fine." When her fiancé nodded, she walked back inside with him following her, and they went into the apartment. "I'm okay," she said to their partners who were watching her closely. "So, nothing at all?"

"We found some of your blood in the room Castle, so that's how we knew he held you there," Ryan said.

"Are there pictures in there?" Beckett asked him.

Hesitating for a fraction of a second, Castle finally nodded, once, and told her, "I think he wanted to taunt me. More than likely he hated me for being with you and wanted to make this an emotional torture, not physical. And he sure did that," he muttered at the end as he watched Beckett go into the room.

"Okay, so anything else?" she asked, not looking for that long as she saw her fiancé's blood yet again on the floor.

"Not really, but let us take care of this, can you go down to the morgue and check in with Lanie about Reynolds?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Beckett said, since she appreciated them taking over in there. "Call if there's anything," she told them. "And document this as much as you can, I want this son of a bitch in jail." As she and Castle were walking back to her car she said, "Why did I run out?"

"It wasn't really a run, more of a stride," Castle said. "And you saw the way he cut our daughter out of the pictures, that was pretty freaky, so I can't blame you for feeling sick." When his fiancée looked at him in confusion he told her, "You looked like you were either going to collapse or throw up."

"That would explain Ryan and Esposito yelling after me," Beckett said as they got into the car. "I think we should take some comfort in Rizzio's insanity though," she commented as she headed to the morgue. "With all the pictures and your blood in the room, he'll be put away for a long time."

"Julia will be safe," Castle said, knowing that was the foremost thought in her mind.

"And you," Beckett said, reaching over to squeeze his hand before they let go so she could continue to drive. When they parked and she heard her fiancé breathe out in relief, she looked at him in slight concern, thinking he was in some kind of pain.

"What? Oh, sorry, no, I'm okay, just glad the media's not here either," Castle said. He followed her inside, and wasn't surprised when Lanie met them in the hall. "I'm fine," he said. "Getting tired of saying that," he commented to Beckett as the doctor was making him look to the right and left by pushing on his cheeks where there wasn't bruising.

"He is," Lanie said when Beckett looked at her. "And you?"

Guessing she might still be affected by the apartment, Beckett quickly told her friend about it, relieved when Lanie nodded in understanding. "Okay, so, we're here to check on Reynolds, anything suspicious?" she asked.

"At first I thought this was just a standard murder, four GSWs to the chest, tight grouping; Rizzio was a marksman wasn't he?" Lanie asked.

"From what I remember," Beckett said. "But you should be able to match the bullets to his service weapon if it was that."

"I could, but the bullets are gone. It's my belief; looking at the pier where his body was found; that he was shot there, and the bullets are going to be at the bottom of the Hudson," Lanie said. "But the wounds match a Glock, which he carried. The weird part was this," she said, handing them a soaked piece of paper in an evidence bag.

"That's not weird," Castle said, shaking his head. "That's Reynolds, his handwriting."

"Not that," Lanie told them. "It's this," she said as she got the black light.

Seeing the diagram on the back of the note, Beckett said, "That's your place Castle."

"The closet, damn it, I always wondered how Rizzio got in to get the postcards," he said. "I'll have to look there."

"But this might not be Reynolds, see the x? It doesn't match handwriting according to the analyst I contacted," Lanie said. "I know, Rizzio," she said when the two looked at her. "But asking the analyst, he said it could or couldn't be."

"We'll need to look into his financials, to see if he gave any money to anyone else the same amount he gave to Reynolds," Beckett told her fiancé. "We should head back."

"Oh, you're invited to dinner tonight, at six," Castle told the doctor before they could leave.

"I'll be there, I might be late, but I'll be there," Lanie said immediately. She watched the two leave, and smiled slightly as their relief was palpable. She found herself looking forward to that night, wanting to see how Castle and Beckett were together since she knew they were far more than partners.

* * *

"No money?" Castle asked, leaning over on the side of Beckett's desk to watch her search Rizzio's financials.

"Nothing out of the ordinary besides what he gave to Reynolds," Beckett said. "Let me call Lanie and let her know that's likely Rizzio's x."

Watching his fiancée talking to the doctor, Castle waited for her to hang up before he asked, "When do you think we can leave?"

"I should start paperwork, but-" Beckett began to say, understanding his desire to go home.

"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, I need to see you in my office," Gates said.

Looking at each other, Castle and Beckett went inside, the captain asking him to close the door behind him. They sat down at the two chairs in front of the desk, a little uneasy; wondering if they'd been found out before she began to speak.

"I've just finished discussing things with the mayor," Gates said. "And she's relieved you've caught the killer."

"Well, it's… we had to," Beckett said, unsure of what else to say to that.

"She also expressed a desire to speak to you both tomorrow morning, with me in attendance though it will be Saturday," Gates said calmly.

"About what?" Castle asked, sharing a look with Beckett.

"I don't know," Gates replied. "But we're all expected there at ten, so you can remain with your families; I'm sure your daughter will want to see you Beckett; since Ryan and Esposito were taking point they'll be in charge of the paperwork as you remember from the Wilder case, you'll only need to sign papers this time."

"Ryan or Esposito told you about the photographs?" Beckett asked, refraining from looking at her fiancé, knowing she would be unable to hide her expression at forgetting about the pictures of them that were outside the station.

"Yes, apparently, he was stalking you," Gates commented, not seeing that Beckett was tense in her chair, and Castle was holding onto the arms so tightly that his knuckles were white. "Pictures of you and pictures of you with your past boyfriends and Julia scratched and cut out. Are you still with the last one?"

"No sir," Beckett said, relaxing then as she knew then what her partners had done for her and Castle.

"Alright, you can go home to your daughter. The same goes for you Mr. Castle, and your mother," Gates said. "And remember, the mayor's office at ten."

"Yes sir," Beckett said, standing as Castle murmured the same. When they'd left and were back at her desk she said, "How…"

"I don't know but I'm debating if I should just give them the Ferrari for that," Castle said, feeling stunned.

"They'd fight over it," Beckett replied quickly.

"She didn't guess did she?" Ryan whispered once he was close enough to them to do so as he and Esposito had just arrived.

"No, she told us to go home, but I'd like to get the paperwork in, so I can maybe go home after we go to the mayor's office," Beckett said. "Thank you for doing that for us."

"We had to, but why are you going to see the mayor?" Esposito asked.

"We're not sure," Beckett said, hoping they would forgive her that lie since she wasn't ready to share with them what she and Castle were expecting to happen.

"Hopefully an apology to me," Castle commented.

"Are you going home?" Beckett asked as they'd fallen silent.

"No, I'll stay and get what I need done before we go together," Castle said. "Julia will want us to be together."

Nodding, Beckett said, "Let's get started so we can go." With that she sat down with the file of papers she needed to fill out, handing Castle her phone since he'd need a new one with his current phone in evidence. She smiled a little as she soon realized he was playing a game, and she worked a little faster to get everything completed.

* * *

Walking to his loft, Castle let go of his fiancée's hand, and when she looked at him he made her put down her work bag next to his door before gathering her in his arms, hugging her tightly. "Since I didn't really get to do this before," he told her before he leaned down and kissed her hard. He felt her slight moan when he did that, and kept up the kiss until they needed to breathe. He'd also kept it simple, as he knew their family was waiting for them inside. Taking her hand again he unlocked the door, not at all surprised when his daughter and Julia ran straight to him, hugging him tightly.

Beckett smiled as she watched him pick Julia up, and she rubbed his back before going to Martha. "He is okay," she assured her before hugging her dad next.

"Are you gonna stay now?" Julia asked as she was holding Castle around the neck tightly.

"Definitely," he replied, kissing her temple again and letting go of Alexis whom he'd started to embrace so he could hug his mother. "We've got a lot to do now."

"So you're still gonna get married?" Julia then said.

"Come here sweetie," Beckett said, taking her daughter and kissing her on the forehead. "Castle didn't leave because he wanted to; it's why I had to go get him."

"He was missing?" Julia whispered softly. When her mother nodded she sighed in relief and told him, "I thought you didn't want to stay."

"Believe me, I was trying everything I could to get back," Castle said, shaking Jim's hand quickly. "So-"

"Wait! Lemme show you what I made for everyone," Julia said quickly. She had her mother put her down before she ran over to the table where everything was waiting. She pulled out something, and handed it to Castle saying, "I hope you like it."

"I think I will," Castle said, smiling as he looked at the flat rock with seashells he knew Julia had collected from the Hamptons with him and Beckett pressed into it. He leaned down and kissed her saying, "We'll go to the beach house a lot now I've got this reminder I'll keep near me when I write."

Julia hugged him quickly around the neck before she went over to the next item and said, "It's not heavy, but I made it listening to music Mommy, the song you like that George sings."

"There are a lot of his songs I like," Beckett commented, sitting down on the chair.

"The one with hummingbirds," Julia explained, turning over the picture.

"This is beautiful sweetie," Beckett said, seeing the picture had paint in different blue, green and black streaks. "What did you use to paint it?"

"They were ping pongs," Julia said. "You really like it?"

"Mmm-hmm, especially since your counselors helped you sign it here in the corner," Beckett said, pointing to the little girl's name in the bottom right corner before the black cardboard frame around it began.

Julia hugged her mother tightly before taking two bracelets off the table and handing one in greens and blue to Martha and another in aqua blue beads to Alexis. "Will you wear them?" she asked anxiously as she held her gift for her grandfather.

"Of course," Martha assured her first. "This exactly matches my dress, and it is wonderfully made. You are an artist kiddo," she told her as Julia hurried to her and hugged her.

"I'll agree with Gram, this matches my dress, and I'll wear it to more than just at the wedding," Alexis said as she took her sister's hand to hug her. "Thanks Jules."

"Another thing for me honey?" Jim said as the little girl came over to him next, holding out another cardboard black framed picture.

"I made that 'cause you like those fishies," Julia said softly. "And Grandmama too."

Jim picked Julia up after studying the buttons shaped like a fish; the colors making it a koi fish which he and his wife had both loved. He kissed his granddaughter and hugged her tightly telling her, "This I'm taking to my office for a little, and then I'll take it home to keep it there."

"Really?" Julia asked in delight. When Jim nodded she laughed in delight and kissed his cheek before there was a knock at the door.

"That would be dinner," Martha said, going over to it. "Oh, make that dinner and friends," she called to her son and Beckett. "Come in everyone and you too," she told the delivery man. "Set everything in the kitchen."

Beckett was going to go over and greet the others, when Castle was suddenly pulling her to his room. "What…" she began to say when he took her necklace out from under her blouse. She shook her head at him though she was smiling slightly, taking her ring off to hand to him. "Sorry," she said when Lanie peered over at them in the doorway.

"Are you going to keep wearing that on your necklace?" Lanie asked.

"For now," Beckett said. "But I'm glad you came."

"You didn't think I'd miss the chance to see my niece did you?" Lanie replied simply, as Julia was holding her hand.

"Of course," Castle said, sharing a glance with his fiancée. "So-" he started to say when he and Beckett came out into the living room.

"Congratulations, you two," Jenny said, coming up to them and hugging Beckett briefly. She did the same to Castle and said, "Ryan told me."

"Sorry, it sorta slipped," the detective said.

"That's okay, she was going to find out once she got here," Beckett reassured him, letting Jenny look at her ring. She smiled as the woman exclaimed over it, and was pulled into discussing the plans for the wedding, not surprised when Ryan's wife was a little skeptical about their getting everything set in just barely over three weeks. "It'll be a small ceremony, really small," she told her and Lanie. "We'll only have thirty guests."

"Including us?" Lanie asked.

"And our parents," Castle said, coming over with two glasses of ginger ale, one of which he handed to her. "We're pretty exhausted," he told the doctor who was looking at them in concern.

"And don't need to pass out in the food," Beckett continued, tapping her glass against her fiancé's.

"So what about Julia, is she going to be your flower girl?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, and what about a best man?" Esposito then asked.

"Well, don't kill us," Castle said before he trailed off and looked at his fiancée.

"Thank you love," Beckett said, rolling her eyes and missing the surprise on the other's faces at her endearment. "When I said we were going to have a small ceremony, I really meant that, Alexis and Julia are going to be our wedding party, kind of."

"Kind of?" Lanie asked.

"I'm carrying the rings," Julia said, since she was leaning against Castle. "And Alexis helps me if I need it."

"And me too," Beckett said. "We're sorry we're not having a full party with all of you in it but…"

"Really we just want to focus on getting married," Castle said. "Speaking of that, it's on the seventeenth… oh, you told them?" he asked.

"I did," Beckett said. "And it'll be at eight."

"At night?" Ryan asked in surprise.

"The morning," Castle corrected.

"Come and eat everyone," Martha then called from the kitchen, moving to the table. "Or else Jim and I will take everything," she said, directing that to Julia who squealed and then ran to her.

"Wait, I wanna sit with Castle," Julia said as Martha tried to take her to her usual chair.

"That's fine Mother," Castle said. "Just let me get your chopsticks and napkins…"

Since everything was in the kitchen, the food was laid out buffet style and everyone picked up a plate, except for Castle and Beckett who stood back, looking at the place settings and chairs which were a little lopsided in ratio to each other.

"I have some more chairs I keep for this reason," Castle assured his fiancé. "And with Julia sitting with me, we'll need one less."

"I'll help him," Esposito said as Beckett started to follow him. "By the way," he said, grabbing a chair from the front closet. "Why are you having your wedding that early?"

"Ask him," Beckett said since that question had been directed at her. "He wants to leave as soon as possible for our honeymoon."

"Not for that reason," Castle said quickly as he saw Lanie was giving him a look. At her then disbelieving expression he hurriedly added, "Not just that, mainly because I don't want to lose a day going around."

When there was silence for a while, Jenny asked, "Going around where?"

"Don't you know where you're going yet?" Esposito said when neither Castle nor Beckett replied.

"He does, but he's keeping it a secret from me," Beckett commented.

"It's a surprise," Castle said quickly.

"Somewhere tropical?" Ryan asked.

"Oh no, no Twenty Questions guys," Castle said, getting his food with Beckett then as everyone had a chair. "I'm surprising Kate with it; but it's not a wedding gift."

"That's another thing, what are we supposed to get you?" Jenny said.

"Did you say you were moving to a new place?" Esposito said.

"We decided to wait for after the wedding," Castle said, glancing at Beckett since they'd yet to discuss that. "After everything we've gone through lately, I think we both just want to relax and then go on our honeymoon."

"Oh, I'm not sure you're going to be relaxing that much with the wedding," Ryan said.

"It'll be a smaller ceremony," Beckett reminded him. "A lot smaller than yours was."

"You make a good point," Ryan replied. "But yeah, what about invitations, gifts, all of that?"

"Well, invitations we'll mail out Monday," Castle began.

"And we have a tentative list of gifts, but if necessary, you guys can send them after the wedding," Beckett continued. "As for everything else, we'll start working on it on Monday."

"So you have the invitations ready?" Lanie asked.

"All we needed were the date and time," Castle explained. "And since we have that we have two days to put those on and mail them out."

"Do you think you can make it out to the Hamptons?" Beckett said.

"Not the day of, if you're really going to have it at eight in the morning," Ryan said.

"You can stay at our beach house," Castle said. When he saw the others looked surprised he quickly told them, "Her name will be on the deed pretty soon, probably next week, my lawyer is starting to draw up the papers."

"If that's the case then sure, I'll be there," Lanie said, the boys and Jenny agreeing. "But don't forget to send us the invitations."

'We will," Beckett said, smiling at that. Her phone started to ring, and she glanced at the number before jumping up to take it. "I'm sorry, it's my friend from Stanford's husband, she's pregnant and due next month," she explained worriedly before heading to Castle's office with him behind, Julia in his arms.

"Luke, is everything okay?" Beckett asked to answer the call.

"Everything's great," May said on the other end.

"May? What's going on?" Beckett said, looking at Castle.

"I had my baby," May replied.

"You, he's early though," Beckett said, quickly counting and realizing that she hadn't been due for four more weeks.

"I know, but he's here, and he's beautiful, I'm sending a picture once we hang up, so you can see him," May replied. "And his name is George."

"That's a nice name," Julia said quickly.

Laughing, as Castle and Beckett were doing so, May then said, "Thank you Julia, and my girls say hi."

"Tell them I said it too," Julia replied. "Are you coming?"

"May, I'm sure you're exhausted," Beckett said, cupping the little girl's cheek when she winced at asking that. "But Castle and I have decided on a date for the wedding. The seventeenth."

"Oh, about time," May said. "Well, we can try and come if George's pediatrician says it's okay, but I won't know until we get closer to the date. Would you mind if I brought my girls too?"

"That's fine, Julia won't be the only kid there," Beckett replied. "We'll still send you an invitation."

"Great, I can't wait and I'm hoping we'll be able to go," May said. "I've got to go; I need to make a few more calls."

"Alright, take care May, I'll call you in a few days, see if we can talk more," Beckett told her.

"I'd love that," May said. "Bye everyone."

After saying goodbye, Beckett led the way back to the table saying, "She had her baby."

"I know, Diana just texted me," Alexis said, holding up her phone. "She hasn't seen him yet, but May is doing alright I guess?"

"She is," Beckett said. "And I should probably explain to you who May is," she said to the boys, Lanie and Jenny who looked a little confused. She began to tell them about her friendship with the woman, and then about the trip to San Francisco, which Castle, Julia, Alexis and Martha helped her with.

"Mommy, can I get the book?" Julia asked.

"Go ahead, now you can show them," Beckett said as dinner was over and they were sitting around the living room. "She took a ton of pictures out there," she said as Castle was taking her hand and pulling her up. "I have my ring on already," she teased him as he pulled her into his room.

"I think we can show them this," Castle said once he had the floorboard off his second safe. "And I need to put all these back," he commented as he set out the other pictures he'd hid in there.

"Later," Beckett said, taking his hand and pulling him back out to the others. "Here," she said, giving the photo of her, Castle, Julia, Alexis and Martha to Esposito. "We took that at Fisherman's Wharf the last full day of our trip," she told him.

"How cute," Jenny said, leaning over once Lanie had the picture. "So I'm guessing you had fun over there?"

"Definitely," Castle said as Julia was giving Esposito the book he and Beckett had made of some of their daughter's San Francisco pictures. "And we'll be going back."

"For your honeymoon?" Ryan asked.

"I asked him not to take me there, I wanted to go somewhere I'd never been," Beckett replied.

"Spain?" Jim asked.

"I'd like to make that a family trip," Castle said, helping Julia onto his lap. "So I'll give you that love, it's not Spain."

"I had a feeling," Beckett said. "You'd likely tell me right away if it was."

Looking over at them as she was looking at the book with Esposito, Lanie found herself a little surprised seeing Castle and Beckett and their two families together. She had to guess though, that at some point it had become one family, the way they were so comfortable with one another. Watching Julia talking to her mother and Castle though, the doctor had a pretty good idea of why that was, and she smiled, making a mental note to talk to her friend when she had a chance.

* * *

"So he's awake," Ryan was saying as he stood in the hall with Esposito, Castle and Beckett. They'd said goodnight and were leaving, but he and his partner had pulled the two out to talk about the case. "But he's not talking, so we're not sure exactly how he figured out about your closet or how he was able to do everything else too, but we've got a pretty good idea."

"Is there any reason you can figure out why Reynolds helped him?" Beckett asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Looked at some e-mails on his computer that he'd tried deleting but wasn't very thorough about it," Esposito replied. "Apparently Reynolds had a thing for you since the Academy too, and he hated you," he told Castle.

"Yeah, that I picked up on," he replied, rolling his eyes. "Have you looked at the other men with her at the Academy, since this seems to be a recurring thing," Castle told the boys. "Well, barring her friend Darnley."

"Yeah, we managed to get some time to do that, called the guys who graduated in your class, they're all married or engaged," Ryan said. "And they didn't really have much to say about you; said you'd been a clique with Darnley."

"Well, that space in the closet is filled in," Beckett said, since they'd boarded the ceiling tile that had been where Rizzio had dropped down into a blind spot. "And now we're safe. So I guess we'll need to see tomorrow after we talk to the mayor what you might have. Night guys."

"Night," Castle said before he opened the door. "Jenny?"

"Thank you so much for dinner," Ryan's wife replied, hugging Beckett and Castle. "We'll have you over next weekend for dinner, bring Julia and Alexis."

Nodding, Beckett watched as Lanie came out but then stopped next to her. "I… you need to talk?" she asked.

"Go Javi, I'll get home alright," Lanie told him, since Esposito was waiting for her. She then looked at Castle before he mumbled something about going inside and left them alone, turning to her friend.

"Are you going to hurt me?" Beckett asked as she didn't say anything.

"No," Lanie replied simply. "I wanted to tell you, my anger's going away faster than I thought."

"That's not the reason why we invited-" Beckett quickly started to say.

"I know," Lanie said. "But I also wanted to ask, how long have you been this close as a family?"

"Since around the end of August, when we took Julia to the Hamptons for the first time," Beckett said. "That's when I had Castle acting more as a father to our daughter."

"You mean your love?" Lanie teased, not surprised when Beckett's cheeks grew flushed. "And that reminds me of something else I needed to tell you, I am happy to see you so different with him from your past boyfriends. You're not holding back are you?"

"Not in the slightest," Beckett replied, though she was reminded of something she wanted to tell Castle later on. "So you'll be there?"

"I'm hoping in the front row at least," Lanie said seriously.

"You'll be sitting next to my dad," Beckett promised her.

"Okay, since you're looking at your watch, Julia needs to go to bed?" Lanie asked.

"She does. But we'll go out for lunch next weekend if we can okay? Just me and you," Beckett said as she hugged her friend.

"Just let me know when," Lanie replied. "Night Kate, I'm glad Castle's alright for your sake."

"So am I, night," Beckett said, watching her leave. Once Lanie had turned the corner she went back inside and said, "Okay, so we need to put her to bed Dad."

"I know, I was just saying goodnight to everyone," Jim said, walking over to her with Julia in his arms. "Was Lanie mad still?"

"She's calming down," Beckett said, glancing at Castle and shaking her head when he gave her two thumbs up. "Sweetie," she told Julia, taking her and putting her down. "Go up with them and wait for me okay?" When the others were gone; calling a final goodnight to her dad she said, "Did he tell you all?"

"Yeah, Julia went into his office to put the things she made for you two on his desk, and he told us in the kitchen," Jim said softly though they were alone. "What are you going to do?"

"There's nothing much I can do," Beckett replied. "The Commissioner is not a fan of his either, and there's no one else he can appeal to. Believe me, we've thought about that for a long time." She sighed and said, "I'm just… I tried not to think about this day coming but, here we are."

"There is one consolation," Jim said carefully, watching his daughter.

"I know, we'll be married," Beckett replied, smiling slightly. "That will be a consolation, and I've told him I'll tell him about cases when I come home to him," she said though the smile had left her face. "It's not going to be the same, but, we'll have each other."

"Call me tomorrow if you want to talk," Jim told his daughter, hugging her tightly.

"You can come over for dinner tomorrow Jim," Castle was saying, coming down the stairs. "She wants you," he told his fiancée when she looked at him.

"Wait, Alexis and Martha are taking her to the bookstore on 5th Avenue, and then to some other shops, the kids shops," Beckett told him. "They'll likely buy her a book, but the other stores they're just going to look around and see what sundresses she likes for Christmas."

"Will they know what size she'll need?" Jim asked.

"My mother can resize them," Castle said. "But go with them, because they're going to need someone else to distract Julia. And also, keep my mom from going too crazy."

"I agree," Beckett said, nodding to her dad. "Also go out to lunch with them and head to a park if it's not too, too hot."

"We'll figure out what we want to do," Jim said. "What time are they leaving, and would they be okay with me going?"

"At ten, and yes," Beckett said, smiling when her dad had. She hugged him again and said, "We'll see you afterwards Dad, night." She watched him go and when she had closed and locked the door said, "She noticed we were very comfortable as a family, obviously because of-"

"Julia," Castle said at the same time as her. When she nodded he then said, "Did you talk to him about tomorrow?"

Knowing he meant the mayor and not their family's plans, Beckett nodded and said, "I'm feeling like tomorrow is further away than it actually is."

"Me too," Castle said. "But, you know we'll have one another like you were saying, just not as we always did. But love, I don't think we need to work together to stay together," he told her as he took her hand and led her upstairs.

"No," Beckett said, smiling. She saw Castle looking at her out of the corner of her eye and said, "I think that amused Lanie."

"Probably confused Espo; should explain to him about that," Castle murmured. "But we'll be okay Kate."

Squeezing his hand Beckett said with a smile, "I know, I just want you with me, driving me insane most of the time, but helping me solve cases."

"Me too, but I guess we'll do that at home," Castle said, pausing at the top of the stairs. "But hey, better to do that, that way I can make it up to you when I do make you nuts."

Beckett sighed though she was still smiling, and she leaned up to kiss his cheek before they headed into Alexis' room. "So you're all ready sweetie?" she asked as Julia was bouncing on the bed on her knees a little.

"Yeah," the little girl said as she then stood up. She yawned and said, "I'm tired Mommy."

"I know, you were awake very early," Beckett said as Martha went to Julia and hugged her. "Did she sleep at all?"

"No, we were all concerned, so although we were tired, there wasn't much luck in trying," Castle's mother replied. "But darling, sleep tonight please," she urged Julia. "Your father is here and staying here, your mother will make sure of that."

"She's right," Beckett said when Julia looked over Martha's shoulder to her.

"Goodnight Julia," Castle's mother then said. She kissed the little girl's forehead saying, "I'll be heading to my room, since I didn't get much sleep myself. Goodnight."

"Night Martha," Beckett said, the others echoing her.

"I'm going to bed too, too much going on lately," Alexis said as she picked up her sister and hugged her tightly. "But since I'm sure you'll be asleep pretty quickly, I love you Jules, night."

"Night 'lexis," Julia said, hugging her tightly. When her sister handed her to Castle, she was hugging him tightly around the neck, pressing her cheek to his as he went around to her side of the bed. "I'm glad you can say goodnight now, I missed hearing you say that."

"I did too," Castle said, kissing her temple before he pulled back to look at her. Smiling as she touched his cheeks carefully he said seriously, "I love you so much Julia." When she nodded firmly several times, he waited for her to stop before they shared a kiss. "Night and sweet dreams tonight okay?"

"Kay," Julia said, kissing his cheek before she held her arms out to her mother.

"I love you sweetie," Beckett said, kissing her gently. "And sleep tonight okay? Tomorrow we'll have breakfast together before Castle and I need to head out to see about the paperwork okay?"

"Will you have lunch with us?" Julia asked.

"We'll need to see, but we'll definitely have dinner with you, and everyone else," Beckett said. "We invited your grandpapa again."

"Good," Julia said before she and Beckett exchanged a kiss. They parted and she sighed as her mother laid her down and tucked her in, looking over at Castle and Alexis to see her sister was hugging him tightly. She smiled feeling Beckett kissing her forehead, and she hugged her around the neck before letting go. "Night Mommy I love you and I hope you sleep tonight."

"I will," Beckett assured her. "Sweet dreams Julia, I love you." She said goodnight to Alexis before her fiancé took her hand, and they headed straight to their room. "Go take a shower," she told him when he'd closed the doors behind them. Before Castle could leave though, she kissed him gently, cupping his cheeks before letting him go. She wasn't too surprised when he pressed his forehead to hers, and she smiled before they finally managed to pull apart from one another.

* * *

"Whew, I feel a lot better," Castle said as he came out from the bathroom, rubbing his hand over his slightly damp hair. He looked at his fiancée when she didn't say anything in response to him, and saw she was looking at the San Francisco book. "Okay?" he asked, climbing onto the bed to sit next to her, kissing her shoulder through her blue pajama top.

"I was just thinking about everything that's happened recently," Beckett told him. She closed the book and set it aside saying, "A little afraid you're going to be taken from me tomorrow."

"Do you mean that literally or figuratively," Castle asked.

Groaning as she'd already forgotten about the mayor, Beckett shook her head saying, "I guess it's going to be both when we talk to her."

"Well, only in the sense of our partnership," Castle tried to assure her. "Which do you put more value in?" He was a little startled when his fiancée suddenly started to blush, and he asked, "What is it?"

"I, there's something I talked to your mom about yesterday," Beckett said. She then told him her conversation with Martha, tense at the end as she expected him to gloat in what appeared to be her change of opinion.

"You… really?" Castle asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, I really don't know if we're soul mates, not just from this one incident but…" Beckett began to say.

"But it's making you start to think there's something there," Castle stated.

"Pretty much," Beckett replied. She leaned against him and said, "I wondered if it's because of how close we are because of Julia, but it wasn't that. I just knew there was something wrong with you and I can't explain it any better than that."

"I kind of wonder if maybe it's because your fear of me being taken from you," Castle said. "It made you hypersensitive to that."

"More than likely," Beckett nodded. She then wrapped her arms around him and said, "But whatever the reason, I'm just glad I didn't lose you."

"I was trying to do my best to get back to you and Julia… well, to everyone actually," Castle told her, kissing her forehead. "Because I knew what I had to lose. But, we should try and put it behind us, I'm back, and believe me when I say I'll be careful concerning texts from now on."

"Good," Beckett said with a smile. She then straightened up and looked at Castle intently saying, "I love you Rick."

"I love you Kate, so much," he said quickly, taking her face in his hands and kissing her tenderly. It continued as they would part for a brief second before kissing again, but finally they needed more than that second to breathe, and he stroked her back before he murmured, "I think we are soul mates love."

Smiling, Beckett said, "I knew you'd say that. And I'm willing to agree with you if," and there she pulled back to look at him again. "You'll agree there's nothing really supernatural or unexplainable about that. That it's just…"

"Love?" Castle asked. When she nodded slowly he said, "That I can agree with wholeheartedly," before he kissed her again. That was a little deeper, but finally he pulled away and murmured, "We've got the rest of our lives Kate, and we're so close now."

"I know, so what you're trying to say is you want to sleep to get another day down?" Beckett asked. She smiled when he nodded once and she kissed him quickly before they shared another that was less hurried. Finally they stopped, and got under the bed sheet with his arm draped across her.

"Night love," Castle murmured, hearing Beckett say the exact same thing. He smiled, but that soon drifted off his face as he fell asleep quickly that night, the fatigue of that case enveloping him instantly.

Turning over carefully then, Beckett watched her fiancé sleep, frowning a little as she thought over their conversation, and what she'd finally allowed herself to call themselves. She looked up at the ceiling though she couldn't see it as she took a deep breath in and out to try and calm herself, determining in that moment what she had to do. She then pressed close to Castle, feeling his arm around her tighten momentarily before she let herself finally sleep in his comforting embrace.


	11. Move Your Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Breath Away from Heaven by George Harrison, from his album Cloud Nine.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Castle watched the water run down his face before he brought his towel up to it, patting it dry carefully before he heard footsteps behind him. He started to turn, and grunted slightly as he pressed down on a bruise above his jaw.

"Okay?" Beckett asked, watching him from the doorway.

"Yeah, just sore," Castle said, barely brushing his fingers along his nose. "And you?"

"Me?" Beckett said, frowning.

"Tired?" Castle asked.

"No," Beckett said with a slight smile. "I slept pretty well, considering later this morning."  
"Me too, kind of weird," Castle said as he went to her. He wrapped his arm around her and leaned down, kissing her gently. He would have deepened that kiss, but he could hear the door opening and looked over with her to see it was Julia. "Hey, you're already dressed sweetheart," he said as she rushed to them.

"It's late," the little girl said simply as he picked her up. She touched Castle's bruise on his left temple and said, "Are you kay?"

"I'm doing pretty well," he assured her before he shared a kiss with her. "Did you sleep better last night?"

Nodding, Julia leaned over so her mother could take her, wrapping her arms around her and kissing her cheek before saying, "Martha said to come and wake you up."

"What time is it?" Castle said as they went into the bedroom. "Quarter till nine, we did sleep pretty long," he commented to Beckett after seeing his alarm clock.

"We were tired," she replied simply. "Okay, go tell them we're up and did anyone make breakfast?"

"I think you mean did Alexis," Castle said, going around to his closet.

"She made fruit salad," Julia said simply.

"Tell them we're going to get dressed and then eat," Beckett said. She went with Julia to the door to close it, and then said to her fiancé, "Are you ready?"

"Not particularly, but hopefully she just could kick me out as soon as we get there and not torture me and drag it out for as long as possible," Castle commented, getting changed on his side of the bed. He sighed and said, "We can't let Julia guess what's going on."

"That's pretty impossible," Beckett said simply. "However you're right. But… we've known pretty much how this will go for a while now. Why are we worrying as much as we are?"

"I think it got here way too quickly," Castle said. "But we should talk about the wedding out there, get our minds off it, and keep Julia from realizing anything's wrong with us."

Beckett nodded once in silent agreement to that, and they were both quiet as they finished getting ready. She watched her fiancé as they left the bedroom, realizing they were nearly finished with what would likely be their last case together. She tried to shake that from her mind when Martha and Alexis greeted them, and she said, "I guess someone's ready to go shopping," hoping her tone of voice was nonchalant as she and Castle went to the kitchen.

"I think that would be Julia," Martha said with a smile. "She's eager to look at the books."

"Not the clothes?" Castle asked as he sat down at the table.

"Those too," Julia said matter of factly after eating some watermelon. "But I hope I can get a book, Mommy, Castle?"

"Maybe, it depends on how you behave shopping before that," Beckett replied. "So what are you going to do the rest of the day? Oh, and my dad will meet you at the first boutique."

"I was thinking," Alexis commented. "About going to take her bowling again."

"Oh! Please can I?" Julia asked eagerly hearing that.

"You can," Beckett said. "But remember to get bumpers for her."

"And remember not to throw the ball up sweetheart," Castle said, putting his hand on Julia's shoulder as Beckett did the same since their daughter was sitting in between them at the head of the table, the little girl squirming. "You're supposed to roll it."

Blushing, since she'd done that the month before when they'd taken her bowling for the first time, Julia nodded saying, "I remember. Are you going to work all day?"

"Not all day, we just need to wrap up the case completely," Beckett replied. "But if we can't join you, then Alexis, film a little for us?"

"I will," Martha said. "I'm not planning on bowling, so I'll be watching them."

"You're still gonna put on the shoes?" Julia asked with a smile.

"You have to," Martha said, kissing the little girl's temple to her giggle.

"Too bad you're not going to play with them, I would have loved some pictures of that," Castle said.

"Okay," Beckett said, as Martha shook her head at her son. "We all need to get going. Castle, I'll be right back out, I need to get my jacket."

"Come here Julia," Castle said, reaching over to pick her up. When he had her in his arms, he carried her to his office and closed the door.

"Why did you do that?" Julia asked before he sat down on an armchair.

"I need to tell you something, and I need you to keep it a secret okay?" Castle asked her. When she nodded eagerly he said, "When you're out shopping at the bookstore or any other store, look for any presents you and I can get for them," nodding out to the living room.

"For Christmas?" Julia asked. She said excitedly, "Can I buy them with you later?"

"Of course, we'll head out, just us two, and we'll get what you saw," Castle told her with a nod.

"But how do I remember what I see?" Julia asked.

"Tell your grandfather," Castle said simply. "And then when we go back, we'll look for him together okay?"

"Kay," Julia said, throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek.

"Hey, are you ready?" Beckett asked the two, coming into his office.

"I am," Julia said. "Help me with my shoes Alexis, please?" she called to her sister as she hurried out to the door.

"What were you talking about?" Beckett said to her fiancé.

"Nothing serious, just asking her to see anything she might want for Christmas," Castle said, taking his fiancée's hand and pulling her out to the door where the others waited. "We'll give you a call if we can join you at all," he reminded them, seeing the three were ready to go since Julia's shoes were on.

"And have fun sweetie," Beckett told their daughter.

"I will, I hope work isn't boring with your homework," Julia commented, going to her mother and hugging her tightly. After she and Beckett had shared a kiss she went to Castle and did the same with him.

Watching their family leave after saying goodbye, Beckett closed the door and looked to Castle saying, "I'll head out first."

"I'll see you there," Castle replied before he was taking her in his arms and holding her tightly before they kissed. It was very simple, but they lingered before he finally had to let her go. He watched her leave, closing the door that time before he turned around and leaned against it, time moving too quickly then; as he knew his fiancée was thinking the same.

* * *

Standing at a window in the room outside the mayor's offices at City Hall, Beckett had that same odd sensation about the people on the streets below as she'd had after Castle had been kidnapped. Her story was unknown to them, but she had a feeling that it too was going to be in the media, though on a smaller scale than the kidnapping. She heard footsteps behind her and saw it was her fiancé saying, "I almost thought you'd get here after her."

"That wouldn't really win me any points with Gates, and since I've got to be in the negatives by now, I wasn't going to chance it," Castle said simply. His phone vibrated then with a text, and he got his phone out saying, "It's Giuseppe."

"About the tent?" Beckett whispered since he'd called the rental company the night before about getting a tent for their reception.

"Yep, he can have it ready for us," Castle commented. "I just hope it's the right size. Though… he's never let me down before."

"Then trust him love," Becket said before she saw Gates coming down the hall to them.

"Detective, Mr. Castle," the captain said as she nodded to them both.

There wasn't any time for a response from either of them, as the secretary for the mayor came out to them saying, "Mayor Wilkins will see you now."

When the secretary had left, the new mayor of New York City went over to Gates and shook her hand before nodding to Castle and Beckett saying, "Please, sit." Walking around her desk, Wilkins sat down and said, "I've been looking into your time with the NYPD Mr. Castle."

Resisting the temptation to look at his fiancée, Castle said, "I've been happy to help Detective Beckett and her team, to try and be some use to them in their investigations."

"Well, that's the thing, it's _their_ investigations," Wilkins said. "Not detectives and a writer. I'm not quite sure what my predecessor was thinking in allowing you to follow Detective Beckett for far longer than one case. But since you have written enough books about her, I think the necessity of following her around is pretty much over."

"Ma'am-" Castle started to say.  
"I've looked at your record, and was more than a little shocked that you've been suspected of being involved in murders two other times," Wilkins cut him off with. "That is completely unacceptable; you should not have looked into another case after the first time."

"Ma'am, Castle has been a great help to me and my team," Beckett quickly said. "And in the case of those two other murders, he was completely cleared of both."

"The NYPD needs to have a clean record Detective Beckett," Wilkins said sternly. "In the scheme of things you and your brethren are not viewed very highly, and I'd like to change that because the department has strayed very far from when my father was a detective." When Beckett didn't reply to that, she then turned to Castle and said, "With that being said, I'm demanding you be barred from ever participating in another investigation with the NYPD." She held up her hand when Beckett started to protest, saying, "I'll give you one of two options Mr. Castle, you can either write your own resignation and promisory letter stating that and present it to Captain Gates, or she can terminate your consulting rights. I'll be giving you that authority Victoria."

Nodding once, Gates glanced at Castle, seeing Beckett looked to be angry before the writer spoke and turned her attention to him.

"I'll write the letter, when-" Castle started to say, sounding calm though he was anything but inwardly.

"Mayor Wilkins, you can't be serious," Beckett seemed to explode as she stood. "If you've been looking at his record with us, you know that with him we've increased our closure rate significantly."

"I'm aware of that record, but I'm sure it was due to your hard work; you and your team of detectives," Wilkins said, standing up as well. "Or is it that you need him to hold your hand through each case?" When Beckett shut her mouth, visibly clenching her jaw, she then continued, "I've seen your record as well Detective, and I would thank whoever or whatever if I were you that I'm not demanding your resignation with your record."

"That's unfair," Castle said quickly, standing up himself. "Ma'am, when do you want me to give the captain my letter?"

"By Wednesday," Wilkins said. "It coincides with my press conference about the state of the NYPD, so I will have one less thing to worry about once you're gone."

"Ma'am-" Beckett began to say, though she knew she didn't have any arguments that would save her partner.

"Enough Detective, you're heavily biased towards Mr. Castle after six and a half years," Wilkins said in annoyance. "Unless you want me to make sure you're assigned a partner once he's gone, then I wouldn't say another word."

Beckett opened her mouth a few times, looking at Gates before she finally turned her head, conceding the argument to the woman.

"You can go," Wilkins said simply, sitting back down and picking up some papers on her desk as the three left; Beckett striding out, Castle going quickly after her and Gates walking to the door.

* * *

At the Precinct, Gates brought Castle and Beckett directly to her office and said, "I've been given authority by the mayor to handle this as I see fit; so long as that letter is written Mr. Castle."

"It'll be written," Castle replied, sounding annoyed.

"There's one last thing," Gates said. "Has he signed all the paperwork for this past case?"

Hesitating, Beckett looked at her fiancé for a moment before she admitted in a fatigued tone of voice, "Yes sir."

"Then I don't expect to see you back inside this station until Wednesday with that letter," Gates said. "Is that understood?"

"It-" Castle began.

"Sir, how could you agree to this?" Beckett said. "You know Castle has been-"

"A tool Detective, and nothing more," Gates said quickly. "You're a good detective, and what you've gotten from him were theories about zombies or the CIA or whatever he could make up. None of which helped you in the slightest."

"But he's been able to do so much more than that," Beckett said. "If he hadn't been here, I don't think Julia and I would have been found before we were shipped off to Thailand. And he-"

"He is not a cop Detective," Gates snapped. "He never has been. And I will not have this Precinct come under scrutiny of the new task force the mayor is implementing at her press conference." At Beckett and Castle's surprised expressions she said, "It will be a team of officials of her choosing and they will look into every station in the city and evaluate them. If I leave him where he is, my people will come under fire, he needs to go for the good of the men and women who are working in the 12th to protect this city."

"He's doing the same! He's a citizen but he is trying to-" Beckett said before she cut herself off. She shook her head and said bitterly, "You've been planning this, since the election, talking to her since she came into office. Why else would you be on a first name basis with her?"

"Kate," Castle said quickly as he saw the immediate anger on the captain's face at that accusation.

"No, you planned this because that's been your one thought since he came back after I returned to duty two and a half years ago," Beckett said, stepping up to the desk. "All you've been waiting for is to shove him out the door, not even caring if it hit him on the ass on the way out."

"Detective Beckett-" Gates tried to say warningly.

"You can't even see what he's done for your Precinct, you told the mayor that as soon as she came into office," Beckett said, ignoring the captain's tone. "You didn't bother to see what he'd done for us, what he's done for Homicide that wasn't a theory you didn't agree with. Is it because he went over your head to come back? Or is it because you're afraid we really are cops who can't even see past our badges and need a civilian to help us out? It reflects badly on you, and you, thinking only of your own position and reputation threw him to the wolves to-"

"Detective Beckett I'm placing you on suspension," Gates nearly yelled. When Beckett froze she then told the detective, "You're finished with the case, and since you seem to want to share in Mr. Castle's disgrace, you're more than welcome to it. You're to come back on Wednesday, when you'll be on your own and you will need to work very hard to get back into the good graces of your superior and this city. Now get out of my Precinct, both of you."

Not bothering to protest that, Beckett whirled on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door open without looking at everyone in the bull pen who was watching her, having obviously heard the argument. She got into the elevator, and didn't stop for her fiancé until she was outside on the sidewalk, nearly at the end of the block. "Oh god," she nearly moaned, covering her face with her hands as Castle caught up to her, grabbing her by her arms. "What did I just do?"

"You fought for me, thank you," Castle said, kissing her temple. "Come on, let's go home," he said as she only groaned in response to him as he turned to hail them a cab.

* * *

"Here, I think you might need this."

Looking up at her fiancé, Beckett glanced at the mug and shook her head saying, "No more tea, please. I feel like I've been drowning in the stuff the past few w- days."

"It'll help calm you down," Castle said, waiting until she took it before sitting next to her on the couch. He watched her take a sip before saying, "Do we need to talk about this?"

"I'm still trying to figure out who the hell was talking in both offices," Beckett said, looking down into the liquid. "I actually talked back to the mayor, and I accused Gates of setting out to get her to fire you from the start of her term."

"She probably did," Castle pointed out. "But you fought for me, and I don't think I could ask for anything else from my partner."

"Ex-partner at this point," Beckett sighed. "I guess I was still in some sort of hallucinatory denial about it, like I didn't want to face it." She felt Castle's arm wrap around her and she said, "I guess there's one silver lining in all of this… we can focus more on the wedding."

"We could," Castle said calmly. "Do you want to do something now concerning that? Maybe to calm you down?"

"One thing," Beckett said before she kissed him swiftly and they stood.

"Can I say one thing in reference to what happened in Gates' office?" Castle asked her as they were walking to his office. When his fiancée turned to him expectantly he said, "That was awesome, the way you were talking to her. You were beautiful in that moment."

"Well, Gates wasn't seeing it that way," Beckett said, though she was touched at the sincerity in his voice. "But thank you."

"No thanks, it's the truth," Castle said. "Now come on, let's look at the tables, what we need to do with their set up. We should get the possible seating chart done; in pencil so we can change it if necessary."

Beckett smiled at his eager tone of voice, and she was just about to agree to his plan when her phone started to ring. "It's Espo," she said, the reminder of what had happened at the station crashing down on her, just when she'd barely managed to put it out of her mind. "Hey, hold on a second Javi," she said before she went to speaker.

"Beckett, what the hell is going on? Why that massive fight with Gates?" Esposito asked on the other end.

"Yeah, what did she do, kick Castle out of the station for good," Ryan said. When there was no answer on the other end he said, "You're kidding right."

"She didn't say anything," Castle commented wryly. "And she's not kidding, as of Wednesday, I need to either give a letter that'll say I will never consult on another case with the NYPD, particularly the 12th, or Gates will kick me out. Better bring a pillow, for my ass in case she slams the door."

Shaking her head, Beckett was about to speak when Ryan beat her to it.

"She told us after you left that you're suspended? Until Wednesday too?" he asked.

Beckett took a deep breath and then started to explain what had happened in Gates' office, not being exact in what she'd told their captain, but giving them an idea of what she'd said that had led her to being kicked out until the next week.

"You said that to Gates?" Esposito asked in shock.

"I couldn't-" Beckett said defensively.

"No, I just have to congratulate you on telling her what was probably true," Esposito interrupted her. "Well, you two are finished with the case, but we've got some answers we thought you might want to hear."

"Has Rizzio started talking?" Castle asked.

"No, he's pretty quiet still, meaning he says absolutely nothing," Ryan replied. "And I mean nothing, not even to the doctors and nurses. But from what we've been able to gather, he found out about your guys' engagement, and he decided to try to get you to doubt Castle, Beckett."

"I'm wondering why he didn't wait until I was at my place with just Julia or alone," Beckett said. "I was with Castle that whole night."

"I don't think he had a choice, he probably wanted to frame me when I was still working with you at the station, to give the added weight of Gates believing I was a killer," Castle said.

"More than likely," Esposito said. "And he chose these people because they all had something in common; they were relatives and friends of mugging victims that you helped when you were still on patrol Beckett. We didn't see it until Ryan realized he'd heard the last name Fanning, a pretty big case that you helped with."

"Yeah, he was the victim of the Jersey North gang, he was nearly killed," Beckett said. "What does he have to do with our vics?"

"Fanning changed his name to Dayton after the gang's trial, he was your vic Dayton's step-cousin," Ryan said. "I talked to him and he remembers you."

"I remember him," Beckett said, looking at Castle. "And he made the costumes?"

"Took us some time, well, took CSU a second search, but they found a hidden compartment that Rizzio built into the closet where he kept you Castle, fabrics and fake gems and everything he needed for the costumes he used," Esposito said. "Plus wood for that thing from the second crime scene."

"The three that were killed at that crime scene, they met Reynolds at that club," Castle said. "Where does Rizzio come into play there?"

"It's a guess, but we think Rizzio came into their little party group once they were away from any cameras or people who could ID him," Ryan said. "And Reynolds was just a patsy, we're thinking he was planning to escape to South Africa, he was searching on his laptop for flights there, in about two days from now."

"Okay," Beckett said with a sigh. "And the office where they kidnapped Castle?"

"They had forged workers passes," Esposito said. "We found one at Reynolds' apartment going back there a second time, probably left by Rizzio just in case. And that's about all we can answer."

"Nothing about the third man he was talking about," Beckett said. "The one supposedly helping him?"

"Nothing, he was pretty delusional," Ryan said. "So he was probably trying to pin everything on someone else in his mind since he knew we'd find Reynolds."

"When is he being taken to the tombs?" Castle asked.

"Well, he suffered some major blood loss, so he'll be staying at the hospital for now," Ryan said.

"But we'll take him as soon as his doctors say he can go," Esposito finished. "We'll keep heading to his room, try to talk to him. If we can make him crack, then we'll give you a call."

"I'd appreciate that, thanks Espo," Beckett said. She said goodbye to the two with her fiancé and then set her phone down. "We need to talk about this Castle."

"Are you sure? I mean, what are we going to do exactly?" he asked her, watching as she went over to the windows and looked out. "I don't have all that much of a choice in things do I?"

"No, but there has to be someone we can talk to, to help you," Beckett said, going back to him, rubbing the band of engagement ring she'd had him put back on with her thumb. She looked down at the diamonds, alternating between shadow and reflecting the light from the windows before it was covered entirely in darkness. She looked up at Castle saying, "Do you know the current governor?"

"No, and Mayor Wilkins is not going to stop; if you think that Gates is going to be bad," Castle told her.

"Did you sleep with her?" Beckett asked, wondering why she'd never asked.

Shaking his head, Castle answered, "She came on to me once at one of the mayor's… the former mayor's benefits, a little over a year ago."

"Oh," Beckett said. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, it was just after the Harris case," Castle replied. "I barely even looked at her and she got a little angry."

"At least she's not married," Beckett said. She covered her face with her hands and rubbed it a few times before she said, "So there's nothing we can do."

"Don't worry, you can tell me about your cases in the privacy of our home, and I can help you out then," Castle said. He was taken aback when she shook her head and turned around saying, "What?"

"I feel like I should do something," Beckett said.

"Do what?" Castle asked her, surprised at that.

After a short, humorless laugh, Beckett walked to the windows again and said, "I don't know, maybe I should resign."

"Why the hell would you do that?" Castle said in shock, wondering if she thought Gates would want her to after their argument. When his fiancée didn't reply he asked her, ready to tell her she was crazy thinking that, "Kate, why would you feel you'd need to do that?"

"Maybe," Beckett said slowly, her tone of voice tense as she turned back around to face him, her heartbeat almost roaring in her ears. "Because I'm pregnant."


	12. Something I Had Known I Was Waiting Upon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Beautiful Girl by George Harrison, from his album Thirty Three & 1/3.

For a second, Castle felt as if he'd been frozen, everything in that short period of time still, before he came back to himself, never breaking his stare at Beckett before he could speak. "You… Kate," he said, stepping up to her in a rush as he said her name in absolute joy since he could tell from the look in her eyes that she was serious. He immediately kissed her, deeply, and would have kept on kissing her had he not realized something. "Wait, you do want-" he began.

Beckett cut him off by kissing him before the rest of that question could ever be voiced, giving him her answer. She held onto him tightly as he pulled her close to him, and she felt a sense of relief that he wanted the baby and she wasn't the only one who knew anymore. When they parted, she wasn't surprised when he pulled back to look at her and she said, "So, you're surprised."

"Well, of course, but… so we're going to be parents… wait," Castle started to say as he smiled. "I mean we're going to have a baby."

"Yeah," Beckett replied, smiling back at him. She took his gentle kiss and then leaned her forehead against his saying, "I wasn't serious about resigning because of this… I just wasn't sure how else to tell you just now. I needed you to hear it."

"After my proverbial kneeing in the groin from both the mayor and Gates?" Castle asked. When his fiancée nodded he hugged her back to him saying, "This makes up for it, believe me." He then thought of something and pulled back so he could look at her as he asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Beckett said, not taken aback when his gaze went down to her abdomen.

"How far along?" Castle then said.

"As of about the middle of this week, three weeks," Beckett said, counting back.

"Three… the Hamptons," Castle stated. When she nodded he then said, "Oh crap, I forgot to wear-"

"We both forgot to take precautions," Beckett interrupted him, having thought of that herself before. "It's not a mistake though."

"No, how could it be a mistake? We're in love and we wanted to be together," Castle said simply. "So it was that first full day we had there," he said, thinking. "We weren't together that many times, but it was enough I guess."

"Only once is necessary love," Beckett said, smiling at that. "And talking to my doctor, I have a pretty good idea of when it was."

"In the morning?" Castle asked. When his fiancée looked at him in surprise he said, "We never used the pillow after that first time."

"It's more than likely," Beckett said with a nod. When he smiled at her and started to lean towards her, she was about to prepare herself for his obvious kiss, when he paused.

"When did you find out? You've already talked to your doctor," Castle asked. "So this is a for sure thing."

"It is," Beckett began carefully, getting to what she'd been hoping he wouldn't ask. At his questioning look she took a deep breath and told him, "Since last Tuesday, after my second blood test was finished; before I could start that new birth control."

"You were worried about telling me?" Castle asked.

"Slightly, this is… big, a baby, and we're not even married, our housing situation isn't exactly set… I wasn't sure if you wanted one before the wedding," Beckett told him honestly.

"Well, you should be sure that I do though it doesn't matter when we have it," Castle said. "I wanted to have one with you before you just told me we're expecting."

Breathing out a little, Beckett said, "I was shocked when she told me."

"I would imagine," Castle said with a nod. "When is it due?"

"Around the second to the fifth of April," Beckett said. She wasn't surprised when Castle kissed her again, and she responded, her relief she still felt making her slip her tongue into his mouth before he gently pushed them back inside hers. The kiss was deep, but not crossing the line into frantic before they were parting for air. She hugged him tightly then saying, "I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to be called in to see her," remembering seeing her doctor vividly though it had been over a week before.

* * *

_"Dr. Millard," Beckett said, seated on the chair in the exam room. "Is there something wrong with my blood work?"_

_"Oh no, like the nurse told you over the phone, you're fine, nothing serious," the doctor said, leaning against the examination table._

_"But there's something wrong," Beckett was able to pick up from how she'd worded that._

_"Not necessarily, I'm afraid I can't allow you to begin that birth control Kate," Dr. Millard told her simply. "You're pregnant." She wasn't too surprised when her patient seemed to freeze and she asked quickly, "You haven't been-"_

_"No! No," Beckett said quickly, knowing the doctor was going to ask if she'd been assaulted. "I've been with my fiancé… but we've used protection, we were careful… no we weren't," she breathed as she suddenly remembered the only day when she and Castle had been intimate and had not made sure he'd used a condom._

_"Is this pregnancy going to be a problem?" Dr. Millard asked._

_"No, at least, I don't think so," Beckett replied. "I need to speak to my fiancé." She was still in some shock, so she went through the exam her doctor did on her as if she were out of her body, moving but not seeming to realize what she was doing. She wasn't too surprised when her doctor guessed she had conceived around the second or third of that month, placing her at nearly two weeks._

_Finishing with the appointment after talking to Dr. Millard about some of what she could expect for the next eight and a half months, Beckett went back to her place, not sure she wanted to see Castle yet. She set her keys down on the kitchen counter, the clattering of the metal jolting her back to her senses then, and clearing her of the kind of fog she felt like she'd been surrounded by. She went over to her room, and she looked at herself in the mirror for a long time, knowing there wasn't going to be any sign that she was carrying a child._

_'Yours and Castle's child,' she told herself mentally. She smiled for a moment, but then thought of her fiancé and what he would say once she told him; when she did, she found she had to correct herself again. She looked away then, but her gaze inevitably went down to her abdomen, and hesitated for a moment before placing her hand on top of it. Breathing out softly, a little shakily, she wondered what the news would mean for her and Castle, how it was going to affect their lives._

* * *

Pulling away from Beckett, Castle leaned down and kissed her softly before he let her go reluctantly. "Kate, could I…" he started to say as they stayed close together.

"Can you what?" Beckett asked, surprised when he walked behind her. She then knew and smiled saying, "Yes you can." She looked down as his hand cupped over her stomach, and she placed hers on top of it, feeling his lips against the side of her head. "This is really happening," she stated.

"I know, I'm still in shock myself, but yeah, I don't see what your doctor would get by lying about it," Castle murmured to her. He looked down then at their hands and said, "What will you do?"

"About work?" Beckett asked. When she felt him nod she pulled away with a sigh and said, "I'll go as long as my doctor recommends it's safe to."

"But what about…" Castle started to ask.

"I'll have to leave that to Ryan and Esposito eventually," Beckett replied, knowing he meant situations where she would need her weapon. "Probably sooner than I'd like, but, I'm not really thinking about my safety alone anymore."

"Are you okay with this?" Castle asked, taking her hand. "Having a baby?"

"I'll tell you the truth Rick, I was unsure when I found out, I'm still unsure right now," Beckett said. "I've only been a mother to a four year old, that's as far back as it's gone. But a baby is very different. And that's not what you're asking is it?" she said when she saw Castle's slight frown at her answer. "Come here," she said, taking him to the couch since they were still holding hands. Once they'd sat she leaned against him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, saying, "I won't deny that I've been unsure about actually being pregnant. With my having to fight for respect from the older, male detectives, I thought having a baby would make me lose that. But I've changed my mind."

"Julia?" Castle asked.

"That's a yes and a no," Beckett said. "Yes because I realized there's nothing to be afraid of being a mother and no because I realized that having a baby doesn't make me less of a detective. In fact, it has nothing to do with that, they're two separate things."

"It makes you more of a woman," Castle pointed out.

"You realized that too?" Beckett asked with a smile.

"Well, what I realized is that women have a lot more balls then men do; the giving birth part of that," Castle said. "And yeah, having a baby doesn't make you weak, it makes you powerful, carrying and bearing life."

"So you're a feminist now?" Beckett said, still smiling at him.

"I've lived around women most of my life, well, the majority of it," Castle said with shrug. "It's not so much I'm a feminist, it's the fact I respect you."

"Ah, so you're a feminist for me," Beckett said with a smile.

"Pretty much, so you're okay with this?" Castle asked, his hand subconsciously going to her abdomen again. "Sorry," he said, about to move it.

"Don't, and so you don't ask or apologize constantly for the next eight months," Beckett said, holding his hand in place. "You have my permission to do that. Just not when I'm asleep or for right now out in public."

"Yeah, we'll have to announce that," Castle said.

Looking at one another, he and Beckett said at the same time, "After the wedding," before they were quiet for a while, his hand never moving.

"By the way, I'm fine with this," Beckett murmured softly. "We'll have to tell them."

"Before dinner," Castle said easily. "Since we'll all be here for it. What about the boys, Lanie and Jenny?"

"Another day or two," Beckett said. "But we'll tell them, I just want this known to a smaller group right now."

"Really small right now, it's just the two of us," Castle said, turning to press a kiss to her forehead. He then had to hurry to let go of her as she sat up, and he said, "Have you noticed any symptoms yet? Or is it too soon?"

"Remember that fatigue I said I was going through?" Beckett asked.

"Oh… but no nausea… you haven't been having c-" Castle started to say before she clamped her hand over his mouth.

"That's all I've had in the way of symptoms so far, and no, I've been doing my best to avoid coffee. So get me chamomile tea or spearmint before you come… to work," Beckett started to say, slowing down as she remembered. When Castle kissed her then she felt a little better, but then pulled away saying, "You're okay with this?"

"I'll stay home and take care of the baby after your maternity leave," Castle said, knowing what she meant. "And you'll come home and we'll have the weekends together with our kids." He smiled as she did, bowing her head and said, "Pretty incredible, we're going to end up with two kids before our first anniversary."

"Does the shock go away?" Beckett asked.

"Well, for you it might sooner, you'll feel the baby move before I feel it kick," Castle said, looking down at her abdomen yet again. "So that might do it for you."

"Is that when you realized you were going to actually be a father? When you felt Alexis kick for the first time?" Beckett asked. She smiled at Castle's nod, and kissed him gently before saying, "I love you Rick," as meaningfully as she could.

"I love you too Kate," Castle said, echoing her tone before he kissed her again, much deeper. As he laid her back on the couch, he found the thought of not working with her anymore was only a peripheral thought in his mind. Where he was really focused was his fiancée and their child that he thought of even as he kissed Beckett hungrily, unable to forget the life inside of her that he hadn't known existed until then.

* * *

"No I'm not partial to the name Tyrone," Beckett said, shaking her head at her fiancé's suggestion. "And you realize it's way too early to be thinking of names."

"Never hurts to plan ahead," Castle commented going to her from the kitchen. He set down her bowl of salad he'd made for their lunch and went back for his telling her, "And what's wrong with the name Tyrone for a boy?"

"My mom told me, when I wanted to name a stuffed teddy bear I'd gotten for my fifth birthday that, that I should name it Kerry, or Galway or-" Beckett said with a smile as he sat next to her.

"Oh come on, just because it's in the north doesn't mean you should be prejudiced against it," Castle said, knowing she was teasing. "But were you really going to name your bear that?"

"I had heard my parents talking about the Troubles," Beckett said. "Of course at five I had no clue what that meant, or why that word was capitalized. No, in the end, she said I shouldn't choose a name that was a place after I suggested the name Liverpool next. And I did, I called him Smee; I was a big Peter Pan fan back then."

"Good name, we-" Castle began to say.

"No, we're not calling our baby; if it's a boy; Smee," Beckett said quickly.

"Don't worry, I'm not that cruel," Castle said quickly. "But maybe you're right about it being too early to think of names. We don't even have a room for the baby, so maybe we should wait until we get one. You think we should start buying that apartment at Riverside?"

"I don't know, there's some feeling in me that's telling me we can wait," Beckett said honestly. "Don't ask what it is, it's just there, nagging the hell out of me," she told him.

"Hey, easy on that kind of language," Castle said joked. When she gave him a look he asked, "Did you research pregnancies because you seem to know a lot already."

"I did, I wasn't going to go into this unprepared, as disbelieving as I was about it," Beckett said, finishing a bite of her food. "But you know, now I've told you, I'm really eager to tell-"

"Julia?" Castle asked. When Beckett smiled and nodded he said, "We'll have to tell her though, she might be getting a little brother, not a sister." At his fiancée's confused expression he said, "I heard in San Francisco; that night we had my birthday dinner? I heard her ask you for a little sister."

"Oh… yeah, that was a shock, because I hadn't thought about having kids at all," Beckett said. "I was just trying to be a mother to her. But I guess I should have expected it, kids will do that; only children. Even though Julia has Alexis…"

"No, I know what you meant," Castle said quickly. "But I don't think I ever asked for a sibling."

"Neither did I," Beckett replied, thinking about that. "Probably because my parents' apartment had only one other bedroom and I knew that was for my grandparents when they came over. I didn't want them to not be able to visit because there was a baby there."

"At least we know already our daughter wants a sibling," Castle said.

"We were lucky there," Beckett said. "But I want to set aside that subject just a little, we need to talk about this," she told him, pointing to the pad of paper she'd brought over to the table with them.

"The wedding, right, so what else can we do right now ourselves?" Castle asked her.

Leaning over with him, Beckett and Castle looked over their list, the latter marking with a pencil what they could do once they finished eating, which was start getting everything for the tables ready.

"So you don't want anything where we'll be standing?" Castle asked as he was leaning against the counter next to her at the sink, holding the list since she was washing the dishes.

"I just want us, the judge and the ocean," Beckett said. "All I want is the sky as any kind of ornamentation… does that sound weird?"

"No, you're simple, but it's a pretty simple," Castle said. He paused and then made a face, telling his fiancée when she asked, "Sorry, I just hope it won't be a stormy day."

"We'll see," Beckett replied. "A little too early to be worrying about the weather. But you agree with me?"

"Just the beach and sky as our altar? Yeah, that's great," Castle said as seriously as he could. "You told the others, we're more focused on the wedding, and that fits us, insanely well."

Beckett smiled and put aside the dish towel she'd dried her hands on, wrapping her arms tightly around him before kissing him. She would have been very happy to let that go on for as long as possible, but the sound of the door being unlocked alerted them both to their family. "Should we just tell them now?" she whispered to her fiancé.

"Definitely," Castle replied, suddenly eager to share the news; with their daughter especially. And as they kissed a second time, much more chaste, he knew his fiancée was as well.

"Oh, you two are here," Martha said, surprised slightly at seeing both her son and his fiancée walking to the couch. She waited for Alexis to take Julia upstairs before asking, "Well?"

"I'll be resigning my position on Wednesday," Castle said simply.

"Oh Richard, I'm so sorry," Martha said, going to him and squeezing his hand.

"What are you going to do Dad?" Alexis asked as she came down the stairs.

"Where's Julia?" Beckett asked, turning to look at her.

"She's looking for something in the bags," Alexis assured her.

"There's nothing I can do but comply, which I will, though really, it's not my choice," Castle answered his daughter's question.

"And why are you home already Katie?" Jim asked.

"Because I am on suspension, until Wednesday," Beckett said. She wasn't too surprised by their expressions in response to that and she quickly told them what had happened at the mayor's and then Gates' office. "So it's short, but long enough for me to face facts is what I think she's trying to get me to do. Also she wanted to punish me for what I said I'm sure."

"But you still have your job?" Jim asked his daughter.

"Mmm-hmm, but you can't let Julia hear that he isn't going to be working with me now," Beckett said urgently, looking at the three of them.

"You should tell her," Alexis suggested.

"We will," Castle said, Beckett nodding in agreement. "We'll just need to figure out how to tell her."

"We might need your help," Beckett told the young woman.

"I'll be happy to," Alexis replied quickly. She heard Julia running around upstairs and then quickly said, "So bowling was a lot of fun," before her sister clamored down the steps.

"Did you do better this time?" Beckett asked, smiling at Julia as she hurried over to where she and Castle were sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, and I didn't throw it like last time," Julia told Castle seriously.

"What's this?" Beckett asked as the little girl then took out a flower from behind her back.

"I nearly forgot about that," Martha said to Jim who nodded in agreement.

"I bought it for you with my money," Julia said proudly. "I thought you and Castle weren't happy so I thought this would make you happy. And Grandpapa says in Spain they have fields of them 'cause they make the _pipas_."

"That's where they come from," Castle said as Beckett took the sunflower their daughter was holding. "But the ones they have for seeds are pretty huge aren't they?"

"Very," Jim said with a nod. "I told her I'll take you guys there too, since you all seem to like them so much."

"And we're okay now sweetie," Beckett said, handing the flower to Castle. She smiled as he handed it to Alexis who took it to the kitchen and got a vase for it. She glanced at her fiancé once his daughter had come back and was sitting on his other side. When he nodded once she took a mental deep breath, wondering what the reaction would be as she started to speak. "So we have something to tell you." She wasn't surprised when hers and Castle's parents and Alexis shared looks at that, knowing they were thinking they were telling Julia about what had happened that day. She had planned on that, and continued with, "We…" There she found herself trailing off, faltering as she was suddenly unsure of how to word it. She felt her fiancé's hand on hers, taking it from where it was wrapped around their daughter, and she smiled at him before turning to the others. "I'm pregnant," she said simply since she didn't find a need to embellish it.

There was silence for a moment before there was a sudden, short scream from Julia and she cried out, "You're going to have a baby?" When her mother nodded she squealed and hugged her mother tightly around the neck.

"I knew it," Martha said. When everyone looked at her she laughed and said, "I swear to you I had my suspicions, but watching you Kate, I knew I was right."

"How?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"Your fatigue, it's not from everything going on," Martha said, shaking her head. "And your nearly collapsing the other morning at Richard's desk, that confirmed it. But I am so happy for you both," she told them, going to them.

"So," Beckett said after Martha had hugged her first. "Alexis, you-" she started to say as she was a little concerned before Castle's daughter was hugging her.

"It's great news," Alexis said with a smile as she saw the relief in her dad's eyes after letting go of Beckett. "And I hope I can babysit once in a while?"

"Once it's here," Beckett replied with a smile. "Dad?" she asked, turning to him. She became concerned about him, as he was still sitting on an armchair, looking stunned.

Jim looked up at his daughter, and he felt that sense of losing the little girl who had called him daddy again. But he could see behind her worry about him that she was happy, and he remembered that he had never been all that sure if she would ever come to the point where she found someone she loved enough to become a parent with them. But she was going to be a mother with Castle twice over, and he found it far outweighed the emotion of losing his little girl. As he stood up and hugged her tightly then, he knew he hadn't lost her really, she had just grown up; and she was always going to be his little girl no matter what. "I'm happy for you Katie, just, absolutely shocked," he assured her.

"Oh thank god, I thought…" Beckett said, feeling tears well up in the backs of her eyes for a moment.

"How far along are you?" Martha then asked.

"Three weeks, slightly more than that," Beckett said.

"When did you find out?" Alexis asked as they sat back down again as they'd been before, but Julia was leaning against her mother's knees that time.

"I found out a week ago, and I only told him when we came home," Beckett said, hoping the three would understand why she'd finally told him.

"I don't think you need to be worried about Richard," Martha said. "He's always wanted to be a father, even before Alexis was born."

"It was just a little unexpected," Beckett confessed. She then looked at Julia, seeing the little girl was staring at her stomach. "What's the matter sweetie?" she asked.

"Where's the baby?" Julia asked.

"Oh, it's there," Castle said. "Just very tiny right now."

"When does it come? And is it a girl?" Julia said eagerly.

"It'll come around the beginning of April," Beckett said, looking at her daughter but talking to everyone else as well. "And we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet."

"Will you find out?" Alexis asked.

"We'll wait," Castle said, but not that forcefully as he and his fiancée looked at each other. When she smiled and nodded slightly he smiled back and said, "Yeah, we're going to wait. Oh, and Mother, Alexis, I know there is unisex baby clothing out there, but please, don't start buying clothes for it yet."

"After your wedding?" Alexis suggested.

"You could, but just don't go crazy," Castle said. When he glanced at Beckett and saw her confusion he said, "My agent's sister had a baby about eight years ago, we were pretty friendly with her, so they bought a ton of things for it. Luckily they knew it was a boy before they started."

"We'll temper our impulses Richard," Martha said. "But I think it's more important to see what the mother says to that as well."

"Would you want us to show you what we buy, to see if you two like it?" Alexis asked then as she saw Beckett was hesitating.

"That would be nice," Beckett replied. "But, it seems a little early to be talking about clothes," she told them.

"If you leave it Katie, you'll find yourself nearly at nine months and without a thing for the baby," Jim commented. "Your mom told me that," he said quickly when he knew his daughter was going to ask. "It's why we were well prepared for you when you were born."

"Is that how long it's going to take for the baby to get here?" Julia asked, tugging her mother's sleeve to get her attention.

"A little more than eight months now," Beckett told her.

"But why so long?" Julia asked impatiently.

"It needs to grow," Castle said. "But the time will go quicker once you go back to school."

Frowning, Julia then nodded, realizing that he was probably right, and she sighed, leaning against her mother before she then thought of something. "Mommy, Castle, what about where we live, is the baby gonna share my room?" she asked.

"Well, I think we'll have to take your room Mother," Castle began.

"We would look for a larger place, but-" Beckett said, taking her fiancé's hand.

"No, no," Martha quickly interrupted her. "Where you found was perfect, and I will be living here in the loft so that last bedroom Jim and I will need to use as a guest bedroom."

"Just don't argue over when to use it," Castle commented.

"We won't," Martha assured her son, Jim nodding at the same time to agree with her. "But shouldn't you start trying to buy it now?"

Castle and Beckett shared a look and Alexis; watching them; quickly said, "When are you going to tell the others?"

"I think we might wait a little longer," Beckett said, giving the young woman a grateful smile since she had no idea why she and Castle weren't already packing their things to move into their new place. "Not long, but… this is pretty big and I'd like to keep it between the six of us for now."

"Seven," Castle said quickly. When his fiancée looked at him he told her, "It's gotta be aware of itself somehow."

"We know it's there," Julia commented.

Shaking her head though she was smiling, Beckett said, "So we're going to keep this quiet publicly, until after the wedding."

"Think we should send in an announcement in the newspaper?" Castle asked.

"You could send it in the day of your wedding," Martha said.

"It would publish Monday," Alexis told them as Beckett looked cautious about that. "And by then you'll be wherever you're going for your honeymoon."

"We'll do that," Castle said when Beckett nodded. "Luckily you guys will be out in the Hamptons, so no one will bother Julia or you too."

"Do you think there'd be that many people bothering you about your marriage?" Jim asked, knowing already his daughter's worry over the media.

"Because this is going to be so sudden, and the fact we're already expecting… more than there would normally be if we'd been more public from the outset," Castle said. "But here's one time where I'm hoping I'm not as famous as I like to think I am."

"We'll need to see," Beckett said. They were all quiet for a moment, and she then said, "Okay, so why don't we-"

"Get your ring," Castle said. He took her hand and led her into the bedroom, hearing her apologizing to the others before he went to the nightstand. "Okay, so, I kind of used that as an excuse," he told her as they stood there since it was already on her finger. "To ask if you would do something."

"Which is what?" Beckett asked when he didn't say anything.

"If you and Julia will move in with us, now," Castle said. "And by now I mean this week. This is only temporary," he said, gesturing to the room. "But I think we should start preparing to live together more permanently." He was surprised when she started to laugh and he asked, "What?"

"Castle, I haven't been back to my place for longer than a night in… forever," Beckett said. "I think the last time I did was… I can't remember. It's become a place to keep my clothes, and Julia's. But since I know you're serious," she told him, taking his hands as he just looked at her. "Then my answer is yes, we'll move in. Funny you should mention that, I need to go get us some clothes tomorrow, if you give me your big suitcases, I can pack some things, bring them over."

"Great," Castle said, smiling as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Hold on, where will we keep Julia's things?" Beckett asked, stopping him.

"I can make some space in my closet for her," Castle said. "Unless you can't fit her things with yours. Why aren't we getting a new place yet? I know I asked that before but…"

"I know, but we should call the realtor there tomorrow, and get started," Beckett said. "Because if we don't, there'll be six of us living here, not just five."

"I don't think we'd be waiting that long," Castle said. "At least I hope not, there is not enough room for all of us, plus the baby. But I'll give you some suitcases, and I'll go with you?"

"I think it's better for right now that we're not seen out in public together," Beckett said. "I just want to keep it from getting back to Gates even though you're pretty much done in her eyes."

"You don't want to be in trouble when you go back," Castle stated.

Nodding Beckett told him, "I'm in trouble enough already, you heard her, I'll have to earn back her trust, and that's going to take time."

"Okay, but don't pack too heavily, and don't do any lift-" Castle began.

"I'll be careful Rick," Beckett said with a smile. "I had a feeling you might do this, don't be a mother hen with me okay?"

"It's hard not to be," Castle commented. "But I know, you'll be careful, just… include me in everything okay?"

"Why would you ask that?" Beckett said in surprise.

Castle hesitated, but then said, "Meredith; when she was pregnant with Alexis; was very… hormonal, from about four months in to the end, and she seemed to be angry more often than not. And when I say angry I mean, angry at me. She didn't want me hovering over her, and we argued a number of times. Ask my mom if you don't believe me since Meredith became mad at her too when she was just trying to help."

"No, I believe you," Beckett assured him. "But she included you didn't she?"

"It depended on her mood," Castle said simply. "So, I just hope you won't snap at me like she did."

"I'll have to see how I am," Beckett said. "But you know," she said, though it was more to herself than to him as his words had made her concerned. "Pregnancies aren't always the same; even for one woman they can be different."

"That's what I'm hoping," Castle said, nodding. He was distracted from his thoughts when his fiancée wrapped her arms around him, and he smiled, kissing Beckett deeply before they parted and she pulled him back out to the living room.

"So we brought down everything so you can see what Julia got," Martha said when she saw them.

"Do you want to?" Julia asked.

"I do," Castle said, sitting down on the couch as Beckett stood in front of him. He smiled when he saw the little girl looking at her mother's stomach again and said, "What is it sweetheart?"

"Can I feel the baby?" Julia asked shyly, her cheeks suddenly a bright red as she looked at her hands.

Smiling, Beckett said, "You won't be able to feel anything," even as she was taking one of the little girls' hands. "But yes you can."

Studying where her mother had placed her right hand, Julia said, "Are you sure there's a baby there?"

"I am," Beckett replied. She leaned down when Julia finally moved and shared a kiss with her before saying, "It will grow. But for now, why don't you show us what you got today?"

While Julia was busy showing the shirt and dress that Martha, Alexis and Jim had bought her, the three were in the kitchen on the pretext of getting drinks. They were actually discussing that night, and after deciding a celebratory dinner would be appropriate that night as well, Alexis grabbed the phone and headed up to her room as the three on the couch were talking together about the little girl's day out.

* * *

"Mommy, Castle?" Julia asked as she and Beckett were sitting together on a swing at the playground near his loft.

"Yeah sweetie?" Beckett asked, kissing her temple.

"Can I make two new calendars?" Julia said.

"For the wedding?" Castle said. When Julia nodded he then said, "Oh, sweetheart, I don't know if you want to try counting down to when the baby's born," keeping his voice low though they were alone.

"How come?" Julia said, surprised.

"Well, the baby could come sooner than the beginning of April, or later too," Beckett explained. "But we're glad you're so excited about this."

"Why won't I be? I get to be a big sister now, like Alexis," Julia said.

"We were kind of afraid you'd think we'd focus more on the baby than on you," Castle commented as he followed Beckett off the swings to a bench, resisting the urge to take their daughter for her.

"You don't only pay attention to me when Alexis is here," Julia said with a shrug. She then frowned and said, "Can I ask something else?"

"Yes," Beckett said hesitantly, getting a feeling already as to what Julia would say.

"How does it get there?" Julia said. "The baby?"

"You know, it's pretty amazing how it does," Castle said, squeezing her hand for keeping her voice quiet.

"Castle," Beckett said quickly with a frown.

Smiling at her, Castle continued saying, "Sometimes when you're in love, and I mean, really in love, with someone, that love will create a baby. And it's the physical evidence of that; something you can see," hoping Julia would buy that.

"Oooh," Julia breathed. "So it's romantic."

"It is," Beckett said with a slight smile at the little girl's response. She was relieved when Julia didn't ask anything else about that and said, "Why don't you go on the slides a little longer? Since we aren't allowed to go back yet." Once Julia had run to the playground she breathed out and said, "Thank you."

"I used the same explanation for Alexis when she was about Julia's age," Castle said. "She had a teacher who was pregnant, and wondered how the baby was there."

"Did she ever ask why it was inside her teacher?" Beckett asked, wondering if they'd have to worry about Julia wondering that as well.

"No, she accepted it at face value, but you know with that explanation, it takes out a large white bird needing to get the baby to us," Castle said. "I'm just glad Julia believed me."

"Though you know, it's not really a lie," Beckett said. "Or something we made up."

"Great, because-" Castle started to say when his phone shook in his pocket. "Okay, time to see what Mother has for us, and let's hope it's nothing too big for this. I'll get her," he told his fiancée, squeezing her hand.

Smiling, Beckett stood up and waited for Castle, carrying their daughter upside down with her legs over his shoulder, to come back and set Julia down with her. "I think," she said as she and Castle held Julia's hands. "We can add to your calendar sweetie."

"Really?" the little girl asked eagerly. When her mother and Castle nodded, she squealed and said, "I wonder how many days it is now!"

"We'll see later tonight," Castle promised as they went across the street and entered the lobby of his building.

"I hear them," Alexis said to her grandmother and Beckett's dad, setting something on the table next to the door. "You think she'll like these?" she directed to Jim.

"Katie does love flowers, just make sure you get their meanings correct, she's a stickler about that, I learned that Valentine's Day many years back," he said with a smile before the door was opened.

"Hey, so… oh, whew, thought we were going to see the place decked out for a party," Castle said when he saw his daughter was fixing some sunflowers in a vase. "Is Julia's in there?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes, right here," Alexis said, as her sister ran up to see. "I tied that yarn around it so you would know Jules."

"Thanks. Did you get flowers for my mommy?" Julia asked.

"We did, but really, Gram thought we should brighten the place up," Alexis said, going over to the table with the little girl. "Since we're celebrating tonight."

"She's right, we are," Martha said, pouring out some drinks. "Dinner is ready, so sit and we'll eat."

"We'll be right back," Castle said as they got Julia to go with them into his room. "That was a serious bouquet."

"They both were," Beckett pointed out. "But she made an interesting choice in flowers for the vase on the table."

"I don't think she chose them for their meaning," Castle said, helping Julia wash her hands. "They're not negative are they?"

"No, the crocus means… love and the iris means good news," Beckett replied. "So I don't think she was thinking about the meanings."

"Interesting coincidence about the iris though," Castle said, drying his hands. "And sunflowers are positive right?"

"They should be," Julia said, waiting for them.

"Yes, they mean pure and lofty thoughts," Beckett said. "Let's go eat sweetie," she said to the little girl. "I'm starving."

"Me too," Julia said, taking her hand. She watched, once she was sitting at the table, as Castle helped Beckett into her chair and she said, "What do we do tomorrow?"

"Always ready for the next day kiddo," Martha said with a smile as they began to pass around the food, from a favorite restaurant of Beckett's. "We're not done with this one yet."

"And what a day it was," Castle commented, looking at his fiancée, who quickly smiled at that.

"She's right," Beckett said when Julia looked at her. "But we'll decide what to do later on while your grandpapa is still with us."

"Does everyone have their food," Castle said. When he glanced around the plates, seeing they did, he picked up his glass saying, "To the future."

Beckett had to smile at that as they tapped glasses and said after taking a sip of her ginger ale, "You're very much to the point."

"It was enough," Castle said with a slight smile. "So I guess I should tell you," he said, though he was talking to the others. "Giuseppe sent me a text, and we have a tent for the reception."

"Did you do any more planning for the wedding?" Alexis asked.

"A little of the flowers, I made a few calls to see if any of the florists in or around the Hamptons had the flowers we needed. And I did get in contact with one, in Southampton, and they'll be able to make a bouquet," Castle replied.

The family easily became engrossed in their discussion about the wedding, and had nearly finished eating when Julia piped up saying, "Do we have to practice?"

"It's more than likely Lydia will want you to," Martha said as her son glanced at her. "If you're wondering Kate, she was my friend before her husband played cards with Richard. But yes, she'll want a rehearsal, it should be short though."

"I'm wondering if we should have a dinner after that," Castle commented.

"We could have it with the guests who manage to get there the day before," Beckett said. "And I know where we can have it."

"The White Narrows?" Castle asked. He laughed slightly when she nodded and then told her, "We can start calling people who RSVP the invitations, see how many will be able to come then. But I'm thinking about just closing it anyways; maybe invite our friends in the Hamptons."

"I think you mean your friends, I only know a few people here and there," Beckett said. "Besides our neighbors of course," she told him as he took her empty plate.

"Then it'll be a great chance for you to get to know them, since you'll be there a lot," Castle told her as he and Alexis started to clear the table with Jim's help. "Want to help Alexis dry?" he asked Julia.

"Kate," Martha said then. When her son's fiancée turned to her she led her over to Castle's office and closed the door behind them. "I wanted to tell you, if you ever need any help, or any kind of advice, I'll be happy to provide it."

"That's very nice of you Martha," Beckett said with a smile. "I will probably take you up on that." She then was going to say something, but hesitated for a moment before asking her, "Rick was telling me about Meredith and how she was during her pregnancy-"

Making an annoyed sound in remembrance, Martha shook her head and told her, "It's true, I told her the same thing I told you, albeit a little later in the pregnancy, but I was rebuffed very rudely. She turned to her family more then, who really didn't appreciate Richard, so I suppose I've never been able to forgive her for that. Besides her being a mediocre actress."

Beckett then said, "I believed him when he told me the story," in case Martha thought she was trying to validate it. "I just wanted to tell you if I start acting like that, to please take me to see my doctor, to see if there's anything I can do to control that… or a therapist, probably that."

"Well, I'm not sure what can be done, but I don't think you would be like that," Martha replied, touched that it was worrying her son's fiancée so much. "But if it happens I promise you I'll help you."

"Thank you," Beckett said. She then frowned and said, "I guess I don't want things with this baby to go exactly the same as it did for Alexis. Which is ridiculous I know, but…"

"You're going to experience changes Kate, to your personality, that would be your hormones going a little crazy," Martha said. "I did the same, I remember just before I started to show, I was reciting a monologue from _Much Ado About Nothing_ , and I burst into tears, for no reason. It scared my fellow actors because I was literally weeping, but it was the baby. Who is right here."

Turning, Beckett said, "How much of that did you hear?" narrowing her eyes at her fiancé.

"I don't know if you can really compare yourself with Meredith," Castle told her, going over to where he kept his decks of cards. "And I mean that in any way."

"That's not what I'm trying to do," Beckett said, watching as Martha left. "I'm trying to not be like her."

"Oh, believe me, in that you've got nothing to worry about love," Castle said, going to her and wrapping his arms around her. "Wait, you mean more to me," he said when she gave him a look and he paused before he had his arms encircling her all the way. "Okay, so first off… it's going to take way too long to explain how I see you," he said before he stopped speaking. "So what I'll say is this; to me you're Kate, my love, the mother of our daughter, the mother of our baby who is insanely small right now and soon but not soon enough you'll be marry me on the beach at our home in the Hamptons and become my wife," he said seriously, looking into her eyes as he held her tightly then.

Beckett nodded, unable to speak as she realized that after he'd said her name, everything he'd said about her was very specific to the two of them. He'd never called anyone his love; she knew for sure because Martha and Alexis had assured her of it after hearing him call her that and they had asked her when he'd begun to do that. Julia had become their daughter after a long time of building a relationship with her as her parents. And the baby was another link between them, as strong as Julia was for their relationship, though it was tiny as Castle had said. Then of course there was the wedding that was going to be far different from his previous two, and they would finally be together in a more permanent way than they were at the moment. But as she accepted his kiss, she knew their relationship was made stronger with all of that, and she whispered when they'd parted to breathe that she felt the same. He was going to be different from her past boyfriends because of the same reasons. "And," she murmured into his ear. "Because you're a far better lover, none of them have ever gone so far as to get me pregnant."

With that, Castle was left with his arms raised as if still holding her though she was walking to the door. He was a little flabbergasted, not expecting her to say that and mean it as well, and he looked at her as she paused to glance back at him, telling her, "Let me remind you how we did that."

"I get the feeling you'll be reminding me a lot from now on," Beckett teased him, not surprised when he nodded. "Tonight," she told him simply, as a kind of promise, before opening the door to join their family, trying not to laugh as she heard Castle scrambling to grab the deck of cards for their game of Michigan rummy, finding a thrill pass through her momentarily as she was considering the many ways her promise could go when they were once again alone.

* * *

"So it looks like twenty days left until the concert," Castle said, looking at the calendar that he and Beckett had helped their daughter make. "And that means twenty-two for the wedding."

"Still a long time," Julia said, slumping her shoulders.

"Sit up straight sweetie," Beckett said with a smile as she was undoing the French braids on either side of the little girl's head. "Just think of this okay, every night you go to bed, that's another day finished."

"Yeah," Julia sighed. She looked up at Castle as he stood next to the bed and said, "Are you happy?"

"Why, I don't look like it?" he asked, surprised at her question.

"You're gonna have three of us," Julia said.

"You mean kids? That's great actually," Castle said. "And trust me," he told her as he sat on the edge of the bed in front of her. "I'll love you all."

Julia smiled, blushing a little at that since she could tell that he was serious, and reached her arms out to him, wriggling her fingers. After they'd shared a kiss she asked, "Can I see the picture again?"

"Hold on," Castle said, standing up and going to Alexis' desk. "I think it came out pretty well," he told her as he handed her the picture of the tree branch with 'leaves' made of green dyed rice.

"Yeah, looks like summer," Julia said as Beckett finished brushing her hair. She got off the bed and set the picture on the desk next to the one Alexis had made with Castle's help. "What about the baby?" she asked him.

"What about it?" Beckett said, coming over to join them.

"Does it make a picture too?" Julia said, looking up between them.

"When it gets older," Beckett said. "That'll give us some time to figure out what it'll use to design its tree. For now sweetie, you need to go to bed."

Julia was going to protest, when she was suddenly lifted up into the air, crying out in joy. She held her arms out as he was holding her horizontally, and pretended to make her swoop. "Again!" she cried as he set her on the bed.

"I think once was enough, got you here for a nice, smooth landing," Castle said. He smiled when she wrapped her arms around him tightly and shared a kiss with her saying, "Sweet dreams Julia, I love you."

Nodding, the little girl smiled when he kissed her forehead before moving for Beckett to come to her. Holding her arms out, Julia hugged her mother tightly saying, "I love you Mommy."

"I love you too sweetie, sweet dreams," Beckett said, sharing a kiss with her then before letting her go to tuck her in. Once she had the sheet around her set she ran her hand over Julia's forehead and kissed it gently before following Castle to the door.

Hearing the footsteps coming down the stairs, Alexis was going to start going over to them so she could head up to her room. "Goodnight," she told her dad and his fiancée as they appeared.

"Actually," Beckett said as Castle said goodnight to his daughter. "I'd like to talk to you for a second."

"I guess I'll get ready for bed," Castle said then when his fiancée looked at him.

"I was waiting for this," Alexis said with a smile as she turned to her.

"I'm not surprised, but I just want to make sure-" Beckett said.

"I don't feel like I'm being replaced," Alexis said firmly. "My dad has a big heart; I think he could have fifty kids… I didn't mean that literally," she said with a laugh as Beckett seemed to blanch at the number. "And he'd love us all. But I understand why it's a worry for you, since you're coming into our family. Though… I'd say at this point you are part of the family, we're just all waiting for the wedding as that last step to make all this real."

"Then I guess we're okay," Beckett commented.

"We are, I am looking forward to becoming a big sister again," Alexis assured her. "Night," she said.

"Night," Beckett said as the young woman started going up the stairs. She smiled with a sense of relief, and went to Castle's room, saying as soon as she'd closed and locked the second door, "I knew you were listening to us."

"Was not," Castle shot back as she went over to him, sitting on his lap. "No, seriously," he told her, wrapping his arm around her. "I watched you, couldn't hear you, that's a big difference."

Rolling her eyes, Beckett said, "I'll let you off the hook for that now, but…" And with that she leaned down, kissing him deeply on the lips before he pulled away from her. "What?" she asked in surprise at how abrupt he was. She cried out briefly when he picked her up, laying her down on her side of the bed. She had little time to respond to that, as he was leaning down, taking her lips with his.

Kissing her hard, Castle was relieved to feel her responding to him and sank his tongue into her mouth, realizing he really should go slowly. But as she was tangling her tongue around his, making him instinctively fight back, he knew it wasn't what she wanted. He was tempted to give her that, but decided to take a little bit for himself as well. Pulling away he looked into her eyes, seeing that she was already aroused, the way her eyes were as half lidded as they were. Brushing his lips against hers he went to her neck, kissing his way down it as she moaned in pleasure. He then went as far as the neckline of her blouse went, and he stopped there, pulling back.

Sitting up the second Castle had her do so; Beckett ran her hand over his head, watching him unbutton her blouse before he pulled it down off her shoulders. She was filled with short, intense tremors of pleasure, his warm skin trailing over her as he slowly took the blouse off. She bit her lower lip as he leaned down, kissing around her right shoulder before sliding to where her bra broke the expanse of her flesh. She leaned against him as he removed that, pulling away to help him take it off faster, watching as his eyes went immediately to her abdomen. "Not yet," she told him.

"I know," Castle told her after kissing her deeply. "It's enough to know for now…" he trailed off as he kissed her once more as he made her lay back. While they were busy with that, he opened the fly on her jeans, and carefully pulled them off. He had a little trouble with that, as he was taking off everything else she wore at the same time, luckily her boots had been long since discarded. Pulling fully away from her, he watched as her body was bare for his gaze, but he didn't have much time to look at her, as she was sitting back up, kissing him passionately.

While they were involved with that, Beckett was unbuttoning his shirt then, with the intention of doing the same to him as he'd done with her clothes. But he'd pushed her with his slow, careful undressing, and she had to school herself not to go too hurriedly. But she soon had his shirt off, and was sitting on the edge of the bed to open his jeans. Her hand immediately went around his erection, and she was tempted to move to take it into her mouth when he quickly stopped her.

"Later," Castle said simply before he laid her down since he was fully naked. He kissed her, moving his body against her carefully, her moans disappearing into his mouth as their skin would brush together in a new expanse, and appear to snap with the energy between them. He finally couldn't take it anymore, and he proceeded to move to her neck. He seemed to remember something, and he gently nibbled above her pulse, feeling her cry out and arch her back up against him. He tried not to go too crazy, but it was a lot of effort on his part to pull away from her and descend further.

When Castle had reached her beasts and stopped, Beckett looked down at him whispering, "What's wrong?"

"No, they're not tender?" Castle asked her. When she shook her head, he nodded, since he knew she wouldn't keep that from him, and he proceeded to kiss over her mounds gently. Her sigh in reaction to the first time he did that let him know what he could do, so he moved to her right nipple, enveloping it within his mouth.

Raking her nails over Castle's scalp, Beckett knew she was moving her body against his a little wantonly but there was nothing she could do to stop herself. She was almost panting as he went to her other breast and repeated the same action, making her hold onto the back of his head until he descended further. She breathed out as he trailed his lips down, and kept going until he'd reached her mound. Bracing herself, she felt his tongue on her clit, and she cried out heavily at that first touch. For some reason, it felt like weeks that they hadn't been together, and the sensation was intense. She stroked his hair carefully as she tried to raise herself up on her elbow, watching him though she couldn't see that much. What she felt though was more than enough and she wasn't surprised when her fiancé had to reach up to hold her down as she was moving a little too much.

Sliding his lips over her, Castle had to hold back a verbal reaction to the realization she was more than just a little aroused for him. He flicked his tongue out, and at her jump he nearly smiled, but then focused on slipping into her, beginning to lick delicately, groaning and not caring that he did so as he was enjoying her response. He reached up and began to gently caress her swollen nub, feeling her moving with him again. But while he was able to keep her from moving too rapidly, it was enough for him to remember why he was trying to stop her. He moved around, kissing gently at the inside of her thighs, his hand still working on her. He felt her nails on his scalp again, and he moved up to her lips briefly, kissing her tenderly for a quick moment before going back down to her sex.

Reaching up to the pillow under her head, Beckett could feel the way Castle's tongue was on her, inside of her, the appendage moving very slowly, and then suddenly speeding up. She had to wonder if he was alright doing that, since she knew he was very much aroused as she'd been able to feel when he'd kissed her. She wanted to try and stop him, so she could pleasure him at the same time, but when she thought about the stopping part of that plan, she just couldn't do it. So instead she whispered his name, suddenly wanting to tease him.

Glancing up at her over her body, Castle felt as if his eyes were bugging out of their sockets as her hands were running over her breasts, grabbing at her own nipples. That broke his plan to pleasure her tenderly before they made love, and he raced up to her. "I need you love," he told her as their lips brushed together.

"You have me," Beckett whispered before closing the gap between them. She felt his hand taking her right leg, placing her ankle on his shoulder. It was a position they'd quickly begun to use more and more often, and she also wondered as he wrapped her other leg around his waist, if he remembered it was that position they'd been in when they'd likely conceived. But the thought was soon flying out of her mind as he sank into her smoothly, carefully. She gave a slight gasp in reaction, but in reality where they were coupled was almost on fire from the sensation. She took his kiss, moaning into his mouth before his tongue slipped into hers to flick up against it, his body beginning to move.

Castle was immensely pleased when Beckett thrust with him, a little falteringly at first because he was working up to where he wanted to be. He didn't want to outright fuck her; at least not yet and without her expressly saying that. Instead he set himself at a pace that would be a bit less than that. It was enough for him to feel the friction between them that started immediately, and he moved down to her neck, nibbling at it before she drew him down to her breasts. He groaned as he felt them under his lips, and as he hurried to start sucking at her, felt her fingers through his hair. The sensation sent a shiver through his spine, and it threw off his rhythm a few times. When he felt her hand on his hip; where her leg wasn't wrapped around it; he was brought back to where he'd been. He moved to kiss her, quickly that time, and then went over her chest, kissing randomly before he pressed his forehead against hers. "Love," he breathed to her.

"Don't stop," Beckett begged him, suddenly not wanting to move from that position as it felt perfect. He was deep inside of her, the friction of his movements were intense, and he was able to kiss her still. She mentally thanked her yoga exercises that she wasn't tiring from the way her right leg was on him, benefiting from the position greatly. She felt Castle shifting then, and she watched him as he pulled his head away from hers. She could feel his legs a little then, and realized after a moment that he was lunging against her. She cried out as his next thrust was deeper, but not harder, as he was only moving his hips.

Breathing out a groan as he felt her reaction entirely around his length, Castle watched his fiancée, the way she arched her back, and how her skin seemed to glisten in the lights on in the room. His mouth watered heavily, and he leaned down, flicking his tongue out against her collarbone, his hiss muffled against her. He pulled back and moved to her jaw, pressing kisses as closely together as he could though his eyes were tightly closed. He breathed heavily as he felt her against him, and he moved to her ear, whispering to her intently.

Beckett bit her lower lip hard as her fiancé was telling her that she was stunning, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to stop; not just then, but from that night to all the other times they came together. She made him go to her lips, and they were soon kissing frantically, running their hands over each other, though he couldn't do much as he was holding himself above her. She didn't mind though, loving that she could feel the muscles in his back working to help him move inside of her. She kissed his temple as he was then kissing around her neck, and murmured to him that she loved him, and that she didn't want him to stop again, adding that she needed him more than she had ever let herself believe. When he moved at that quickly to look into her eyes, she kissed him hard, not letting him reply just yet.

"Do you want me now Kate?" Castle asked, his voice husky in reaction to what she'd told him. "Tell me," he murmured lovingly against her cheek before he moved back to her lips.

"Yes, I… even though… I can't stop myself," Beckett breathed deeply in pleasure before she could stop the moan that soon escaped her lips. She took her fiancé's kiss, responding to it as much as she could before he pulled away to let them breathe. Their lips were close to each other though, and she felt their breath mixing in between them. A shiver started through her body, and she cried out when their hips slapped together roughly. She then moved her leg from his shoulder, wrapping it high around his side, between his waist and under his arm. That gave her the opportunity to spur him on, digging her heels into his back as he was speeding up slightly. He still wasn't fucking her, but the difference in the friction between them almost led her to believe he was. She moaned his name and wasn't surprised when he kissed her a little recklessly in response.

Castle could feel his body by then was damp with sweat, and so was Beckett's as their skin was sliding together incredibly easily. He was panting for air, so kisses between them weren't taking very long as they kept moving, kept touching each other. He was soon moving back a little, closing his eyes as he concentrated on feeling her around him. She was tight, incredibly wet and he almost forgot that she was carrying his child; it could have easily been the first time he'd been with her. But opening his eyes, he saw that she was playing with her own breasts again, and her ring caught the lights, reminding him where in time he was exactly. He was also brought back to the present when Beckett pulled him to her lips, and they kissed. The startling thing there though was that they were very gentle that time, slow and careful before he was kissing around her neck and chest, unable to stop doing that.

Beckett was aware that Castle had been concentrating on something as she watched him, and had been a little desperate to bring him back to her as she needed some kind of release, everything in her body coiled tight. She stroked his hair as he moved down over the upper part of her body, wherever he could reach with his lips. Each kiss, brush or peck of his lips was a heady shot of pleasure though her, rapid and suffusing her with heat. She was burning, and knew there was nothing that was going to relieve the sensation until she broke.

"Come for me my love," Castle begged her then, not aware exactly of what she'd been thinking. He kissed her once, begged her to do so, kissed her twice and begged again. The third time he was outright commanding her, cursing himself, but it seemed to be exactly what she wanted, as she was arching her back roughly, crying out his name before he was groaning, moving faster inside of her as he managed to say her name a few times.

Beckett could feel his release, holding Castle tightly against her body as he was rough, hard against her and she relished being able to sense him so well. She was disappointed when he moved hard a few times more, and then stopped, her own body doing the same. She sighed deeply in pleasure though as she held him against her, stroking his hair gently. "You really wanted me to get off didn't you?" she told him, laughing softly when he groaned a little. She kissed his temple and said, "So did I."

"You're amazing, going to be hard not to want you just like this many times," Castle said, raising his head.

"I just hope when I stop feeling the urge to do this you won't forget that," Beckett told him.

It was then that Castle quickly got off of her, and he moved down on the bed to carefully kiss her stomach. He kissed randomly, feeling Beckett's hand on the back of his head. And it was then he murmured his first words to their baby, saying simply, "I love you."

Tears in her eyes, and not caring there were, Beckett brought Castle up to her, kissing him deeply as they lay on their sides together. When they needed to breathe deeply, she took his hand and kissed his fingertips before pressing it back to her stomach. "I realize I was a little foolish thinking you wouldn't want this baby," she told him.

Castle started to speak, but then hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should say what he'd been wanting to tell her. But finally he said, "I've wanted one with you for… a long time." At her questioning expression he said as they moved to lie down a little more comfortably, "Do you remember the couple across the way?"

"The sex against the window couple, mmm-hmm," Beckett said, unable to forget them.

"I had wanted a baby with you already, but my mind hadn't let me realize it until then," Castle said, lying behind her, his hand on her abdomen, rubbing it carefully to see if she would tell him to stop. "I was going to tell you that morning when we saw them, but we kept getting interrupted. I thought it was fate, and it looks like I was right, it wasn't time yet."

"Of course not, I was still on birth control," Beckett said, looking back at him. She then said softly, "But I wanted the same too. I think I started to flirt with the idea of having a baby with you when Julia asked for a little sister. But seeing the two over there, I wanted that for us."

"You were jealous?" Castle asked her.

"They were happy and… you could tell they were in love; not just physically," Beckett said. "And I'm happy Rick, very much so."

"So am I love," Castle said before they kissed gently. When she turned to lie on her back, he kissed her deeply, thoroughly as he turned them around quickly. He helped her so they were coupled once more, and they began to move, making love a little feverishly that time.

Beckett was trembling, panting and crying out as her fiancé took the opportunity to pleasure her in whatever way he could. She wasn't sure how long they were together, time becoming more than a little meaningless to them both before they were climaxing together roughly. When they managed to lie back on the bed, breathing hard, she smiled and then started to laugh at the thought that had just shot through her head.

"What?" Castle asked her, looking at her since he was on his side and she was on her back again.

"No, just, I never thought I'd find myself so glad not to have to worry about you having protection," Beckett said.

"We went for a while without it," Castle pointed out to her. "From the start actually, but yeah, I'll agree with you there." When she turned onto her side he settled on his back and said, "Are you okay?"

"Hmm, fine," Beckett said. "I am kind of tired though."

"Did I take you out that second one?" Castle asked.

"I think we did it to each other," Beckett replied simply with a smile. She kissed him then gently and said, "I love you Rick."

"I love you Kate," Castle told her before he leaned down enough to capture her lips with his. He let that kiss linger for as long as possible before they were slowly parting and he murmured her name once before they were kissing again.

Stroking his cheeks with the very tips of her fingers as they stared into each other's eyes, Beckett couldn't help the exhaustion running through her and she sighed. "I can't help it, I need to sleep. Sorry," she told him apologetically.

"It's okay," Castle reassured her before they lay on their sides again, and he pressed up behind her. "Night love," he murmured. He held her tightly, waiting for her to sleep as he held her tightly to him, his hand staying on her abdomen until he fell asleep with her.

"Night," Beckett said with a smile as his hand pressed against her stomach yet again. She sighed and closed her eyes, falling asleep quickly as she hadn't been kidding about her fatigue. But she was sated, and relieved, forgetting about her suspension and everything else but telling him about the baby and their night together. Her mind was already looking to the next day, taking in more the fact that it was real; she was going to become a mother and she and Castle would be parents together, again.


	13. Only Want What I Can Get

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Not Guilty by George Harrison, from his album George Harrison.

Setting down the mug on her nightstand, Castle sat next to his fiancée, studying her body as she slept on her side. He started to reach out to touch her, but then paused at her shoulder as she shifted slightly. But she was soon settling down again and he carefully ran his fingertips over her skin, not surprised at the reaction it had to him. Finally, he stroked her arm gently, and watched as her eyes slowly opened. "Hey," he said, smiling as she looked up at him, blinking a few times.

"Morning," Beckett said, seeing the sunlight filling the room. "What time is it?" she asked, looking over at the clock on his nightstand.

"A little after eight," Castle answered. "How are you?"

Beckett had no trouble remembering the day before, and she smiled as she sat up, trying to grab the bed sheet before her fiancé stopped her. "I'm fine," she told him. "Tea?" she asked, glancing to her nightstand and seeing the mug there.

"Spearmint," Castle told her, handing it to her. "It's a little cool; I didn't think you'd want it scalding hot."

"Thanks," Beckett said, sipping at it slowly. She wasn't too taken aback when he brushed her hair back over her shoulder and handing him the mug asked, "Are you going to be like this during my pregnancy?"

"Like what?" Castle asked, unable to help feeling a thrill at those last two words. The sound of them making it very real to him.

"Very hand-sy," Beckett told him.

"Aren't I always?" Castle pointed out, his eyes trailing down her form. "No, don't," he said gently, moving her arm away from her breasts which she was trying to cover.

Beckett was going to speak, when he suddenly took her wrist, and after pressing a kiss to the inside of it, lowered it and handed her the mug, almost forcing it into her hands. "What?" she asked, startled at that action.

"Drink as much as you want," Castle said. He groaned as she took a sip saying, "I should have made another cup."

"You also should have been dressed while making this one," Beckett said.

"I was, I disrobed before waking you up," Castle said. "They're all still asleep."

"Okay," Beckett saying, taking a third and final sip before handing him the mug. She smiled slightly as he took a sip of the tea and then helped her lay down with his free hand. She felt a shiver go through her at the way his eyes were so intense as they studied her form, and she couldn't help saying, "What are you going to be like when I'm showing?"

"Do you not think I'll want you still?" Castle asked as he turned away from her, but only to set down the mug on the nightstand again.

"I don't know, it could go either way," Beckett said, biting her lower lip as she watched him dip his fingers into the liquid.

"I think it's going to be going the way of me wanting you," Castle said. "Because I want to repeat that second."

"That destiny thing you said before," Beckett commented, trying to joke though she was starting to become breathless watching his fingers flicking a little of the excess tea off his skin.

"No, it's a lot more than that. Is there ever a shock when you come, that split second when you first begin to feel it?" Castle asked, holding his fingers above her breasts and dripping the rest of the tea there.

"Yes," Beckett breathed. "Do you?"

"Since I've been with you," Castle said before looking at her questioningly. When she nodded; indicating it'd been the same for her with him; he said, "You've had too many selfish lovers Kate."

"Are you taking it upon yourself to make up for that?" Beckett asked him, her entire body tense as his hands were sliding up and down her sides. She sucked in a deep breath of air as he leaned down instead of answering, and his kisses, firm upon the swell of her breasts before his tongue flicked out to gather the tea on it, was leaving her trembling imperceptibly. She slid her fingers through his hair, and watched him moving very deliberately before he got the last of the liquid off her skin. "So that's a yes?" she breathed.

"I think that was my answer," Castle said, starting to sit back up. He wasn't too surprised when she wouldn't let him go, and met her lips once she had pulled him to her, kissing her deeply, joyfully. He hadn't been all the way satiated the night before when they'd been asleep, but had ignored his own desires since he knew she needed the rest. But with her responding then, he knew he was going to be able to quench that need for her that had arisen feeling her in his arms as they'd been alone in his room. Their kiss went on a little longer, until she finally let him go, and was going to reach for the tea when she beat him.

Beckett smiled when Castle kissed at her arm as she dipped her fingertips into the mug, then held them above him a little, watching breathlessly as he caught the drops on his tongue before using it to curl it around her fingers. Her breasts were aching, her clit and sex soon responding in turn as he began to suck at the digits, being very slow and careful. She found herself panting for air then, watching him get his index finger wet before he went back to her and circled her right nipple before rubbing along it. She was rigid with anticipation as he finally bowed his head, and the first gentle suck at her taut nub was enough for her to arch her back, moaning his name in her complete desire.

Looking up at her as his mouth was ringing with the taste of the herb in the tea, Castle found his heart thudding in his chest at how amazing she looked at that moment. Her hands were holding onto the sides of the pillow underneath her, moving in response to his slow laps of his tongue to gather the tea that was soon gone. He repeated the same action at her other breast, watching her again, feeling her mound moving up as she put her arms over her head. "At some point that's going to be really uncomfortable," he said, wondering why it hadn't started yet.

"I'm aware of it, but there's no set time for that. So just enjoy it while you can," Beckett told him simply. She stopped him from getting more tea and told him, "I need you Rick."

"How badly?" Castle asked as he moved to lay on top of her, careful to keep his weight off of her.

"Hmm, as badly as I can feel you need me," Beckett said, smirking as his erection was firm against her leg. She then took his hand, and placed it in between them, feeling his fingers searching her damp folds, making her breathing shudder in response. She was taken aback when he suddenly turned them around, putting her atop him, and she was quick to hurry and straddle his lap. She leaned her head back so the strands of hair draped over her shoulders fell back, and she smiled at her fiancé's groan, hearing the desire very easily in that. Looking down at him, she nearly jumped when he sat up, and she said, "So badly then," wrapping her arms around him.

"Badly," was all that Castle said as they together moved him until she could lower her body. The way her legs were positioned, spread as far as they could go and bent in such a way her mound was pressing up against the junction of his legs, he knew he was going to have to move. He looked at her as he made the first thrust, waiting to see what she would say or do to change him. But she merely held onto him tightly, moving with him as he continued, and he was taking off, speeding up as he couldn't resist her.

Relieved that he was doing what she hadn't asked, Beckett leaned over and bit lightly at his earlobe before whispering, "Don't stop love, just like that…" before her head tilted back as he stopped and then moved somehow to get on his knees. His hands flared on her waist, he was moving her and she went along with him, having no compunction in doing that, since it was what she wanted. Her body wasn't aching as they started to kiss, but it was throbbing around him, feeling him filling her, friction defining that very well. She kissed around his lips when they had parted, and she moved her knees enough so she could move faster; her position before prohibiting her. She bit at her lower lip, and felt Castle's lips on her neck again, that time not taking it easy at all as his teeth nibbled at her skin, making her hold him firmly in place as they kept speeding up until reaching a point they decided on together was right where they wanted to be.

Moving to press his forehead against hers, Castle whispered her name against her lips, before they were in a very chaste kiss. It was a shock to him, as the rest of his body was being inundated, feeling her so clearly around him, her body flush against his, moving up and down against his skin. He was burning in each touch she gave him, and since it was so constant, the feeling never went away. He wasn't complaining, thoroughly enjoying it as they slipped into another heavy kiss. Finally, he completely stopped moving, a little surprised when his fiancée did the same, and he looked up at her saying, "Too much?"

"A little, I didn't want to stop yet," Beckett told him. She sighed as he went to her neck, kissing her slowly before he reached her pulse. She could feel herself throbbing still, and that intensified as he sucked at her skin there repeatedly. Stroking the back of his head, she soon had him tilting his head back before she told him, "I think we need to keep going. I need you to keep going."

"Believe me, so do I," Castle assured her. With that they began to thrust again at the same time, breathing out heavily at the first as he felt the little gasp coming out of her mouth since it was against his jaw. He tilted his head up, kissing her briefly before she followed his lips. They brushed against each other a few times until they were moving, and he murmured against her, "Tell me what you want love… more?"

"Fuck me Rick," Beckett breathed out, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She was quick to follow his movements, and was trying to work her body in such a way that she could rub her clit against him. It took a few tries, but finally she was able to do it, and the first time his skin was brushing against her, she was clutching at him, trying not to cry out but unable to stop herself. She took his kiss, knowing he had noticed what she'd done, and she kissed him back as deeply before parting her lips to his eager tongue. As it swept around her mouth, she flicked her tongue against it, and was a little startled when her fiancé abruptly broke off the kiss. "What are-" she started to say before he was taking her right nipple into his mouth. Her gasp seemed to ricochet off the walls of the room, but she wasn't in any state to notice it, as he was suckling her hungrily, making her clutch at him, almost desperate as the pleasure from that action rushed through her entire body.

Castle could feel in the way Beckett was holding onto him and moving harder against him that she was enjoying his ministrations. He was as well, but felt they had crossed the point where they could delay their inevitable climax. He didn't mind, there was so much she was making him feel that he didn't want to try and fight it anymore. So instead he worked back and forth over her breasts repeatedly, until he had to breathe a little more than the quick gasps he was taking going between each mound. But as he moved up to come face to face with her he reached down from where he'd been gripping at the small of her back to her ass, squeezing it once. Her sudden jerk up and against him made him do that again, producing a shudder that time, and he would have done it once more if she hadn't managed to move his hands back to where they'd been. He kissed her, and kept that going until he suddenly moved backwards a little as he thrust up, and that seemed to be the last his fiancée could take.

Tilting her head back, Beckett was crying out heavily in ecstasy as it rushed through her, wondering if she was being too loud. But she felt that momentary jolt within her, and only seconds later, felt it in Castle in the way he moved towards her, grabbing onto her roughly. They were moving together quickly as they kissed off and on through their orgasms, and when they finally stopped they had to take a little time to get back to themselves. Finally though, she could feel her back on the cooler sheet beneath them, and she watched her fiancé lay on his side next to her, draping his arm across her abdomen. "Hmm, so what's with that jolt you were talking about?" she then asked him.

"Our souls, searching for each other," Castle said simply, and he kissed her deeply before she could protest that idea. But he couldn't keep doing that, and breathing hard he said, "Just give me that at least," pressing his forehead against hers.

"I will," Beckett said immediately. When her fiancé pulled back and looked at her in surprise, she smiled and said, "That sensation was only strong in two instances, when I'm bringing myself to climax, and when you do it. That's when it's strongest."

"So many selfish lovers," Castle said with a mock pitying sigh. "I'll have to spend a long time making up for them won't I?"

"Ages," Beckett said simply before she laughed softly and brought him down to her for a tender, loving kiss until his alarm began to ring. "I don't think I want to get up," she told him as Castle came back to her from turning the alarm off.

"I know what you mean, but, there's tonight, tomorrow morning… whenever we please," Castle told her, laying on her and nuzzling her lips with his as he spoke.

"You're right, for now though, we should take a shower-" Beckett began to say, knowing they weren't alone to be able to spend the day in bed but part of her wishing they were.

"Together?" Castle asked.

"One shower," Beckett answered. "And then get breakfast ready."

"Hungry?" Castle asked.

"I am, I told you, no nausea," Beckett said as he moved to get off of her and then the bed. She smiled when he pulled her up, and followed him straight into the shower, her back pressing against the wall as he turned on the water at the same time he was kissing her passionately while the mist began to curl around them, enveloping their bodies as they held onto one another tightly.

* * *

Standing behind Beckett as she was running her fingers through her damp hair, Castle couldn't help come up to her and kiss her shoulder before he looked at her reflection in the mirror. "I love you, you know that right?" he murmured to her.

"I know," Beckett said, smiling as she looked down at his hands that were spanning her abdomen. She then said, "And I love you too. But is this what you want?" turning to him and wrapping her arms around him. "For the rest of our lives?"

"Oh, don't start quoting me on what I said about marriage before," Castle said, shaking his head. "I was talking about my other two 'marriages,'" he told her, making air quotes.

"Nice Dr. Evil impression, it needs some work though," Beckett said, studying him for a moment. She smiled when he looked at her and she kissed him before she said, "Despite what you say, they were marriages," going out into the bedroom.

"Well, they were dips in the pool," Castle said. "I'm ready to jump in the deep end this time around. What?" he asked at her look.

"Interesting analogy, so you're either going to swim or drown," Beckett said.

"Too grim, okay, then I'm ready to really be married, and put myself in it fully, no holding back," Castle said.

Beckett was quiet for a moment at that, and then she smiled slightly before she wrapped her arms around him tightly saying, "I'll hold you to that."

"Good," Castle said. "Since there's so much more than just you and I," he told her. At her confused expression, he nodded to the door where they could see their daughter peeking inside.

"Morning sweetie," Beckett said with a smile. She was surprised when Julia rushed to them, touching her stomach.

"Can I say good morning?" Julia said.

"You did, the baby can't hear quite yet, but the touch is as good as saying it," Castle commented.

"Morning Mommy," Julia said then, wrapping her arms around her mother tightly. She squealed when Castle was suddenly picking her up, and she hugged him around the neck. "Are we gonna have breakfast?" she asked.

"I think that means she's hungry," Castle said to his fiancée.

"More than likely," Beckett said. "So who's cooking?"

"I will," Castle said quickly. "And it'll be a surprise," he said, directing that to their daughter.

"Can't we watch?" Julia asked her mother as he set her down at the bottom of the stairs.

"After you're ready," Beckett said. She was about to start up the stairs when Castle grabbed her wrist, and she turned on the first step, wrapping her arms around him, kissing him hungrily for as long as she dared, knowing he was doing the same when they ripped themselves apart. "We'll be right back down," she said, cupping his cheek as she turned. Taking Julia's hand as the little girl was smiling up at them, she said, "So we need to see what you'll wear today sweetie, remember we're heading out to find the things for the tables for the wedding when I get back," as they approached Alexis' room. She knocked on the door, and when the young woman called them in, stepped inside, letting Julia go in first.

"Morning," Alexis said, coming out from the bathroom. "She was eager to see if you were awake and wouldn't let me get her dressed."

"That's fine," Beckett said. "You helped her pick out what to wear though," she commented as Julia handed her a sundress. "You want to wear that?"

"Yes please," the little girl said eagerly. She let her mother help her change into the dress, able to put on the pale blue fabric herself before Beckett tied the thin cord around her waist. "Hurry," she said, hopping from foot to foot. "I wanna see what we have for breakfast."

"Do you want to do anything special with your hair?" Beckett asked her daughter. She wasn't too surprised when Julia ran to grab a ribbon that was on Alexis' desk and said, "Then come here."

Though she tried not to move, Julia couldn't help shift a little with each knot that her mother got to. But finally the ribbon was around her hair, and she took her mother's hand, taking her downstairs to the kitchen where Martha was sitting in one of the chairs. "Morning!" she called as her mother set her in the middle chair and then sat next to her.

"Good morning and how are we today?" Martha asked, looking at her son's fiancée.

"I'm fine," Beckett said with a smile. "I take it this is a hint?" she asked her fiancé who was making omelets.

"Well, we can finish getting them ready, since we can't mail them until tomorrow," Castle said.

Shaking her head, Beckett picked up his fountain pen and wrote out the date of their wedding and then the time on the first invitation that was at her place. They'd made them themselves, as it had been easier to do it that way without alerting anyone else to the fact they were engaged. They had purposely left the date and time blank, and after some discussion, decided she would be the one to fill them out since her handwriting was slightly neater than his.

"When do I learn to write like that?" Julia asked, watching her mother.

"About third grade," Castle said. "I remember penmanship, never liked having to repeat letters over and over again," he told her, making a face.

"That and because your teacher told you you had an abominable hand," Martha said.

"Yeah, he was kind of a j… he wasn't that nice," Castle started to say before correcting himself quickly. "But at least you can read what I write."

"Good thing," Alexis said, coming down the stairs. "Okay if I practice?" she asked everyone since she was carrying her sitar.

"Go ahead," Beckett said, smiling as Martha helped Julia down to the ground. "It'll be interesting to hear how much you've learned."

"Here you go," Castle said, having been taking the kettle off the oven and getting another cup of tea ready for his fiancée. "I thought you might want another."

"I do," Beckett said, looking at him as Martha had left them to go with Julia to sit with Alexis. "Especially since I didn't really get my first cup, you did mostly."

Castle didn't say anything, merely turned before he said, "Regrets?"

"Oh please," Beckett said, laughing when he jumped as she'd gone to him. "For what we were doing?" she asked, keeping her voice low again. "Never. And I finished the invitations if you're wondering."

"Great, so I figured while you're at your place, I'll have Julia and Alexis help me with getting those into their envelopes," Castle said.

"Julia will want to help," Beckett said, looking over at the others as she leaned against the counter next to her fiancé. "I was thinking, since we're focusing on the wedding, what about the cake?"

"Yeah, I was thinking of going to the bakery in-" Castle started to say.

"The Hamptons?" Beckett quickly finished. When he nodded she smiled and said, "They did have some beautiful cakes… and it would be easier to go there instead of having one sent from the city. But how can we order it?"

"We'll need to head out there," Castle said. "Which we could do tomorrow since, you know, it's three weeks today until then."

Beckett bit her lower lip at the realization that he was right, and she couldn't believe there was less than a month left. She looked at her fiancé and said, "I think we should do that, and Tuesday get whatever else we need done. You need to call your friend about being the DJ today too."

"I'll do that as soon as breakfast is over," Castle said. "Speaking of which…"

"Sweetie, help me set the table," Beckett called.

"We'll do it," Alexis said, setting down her sitar she'd been playing during that time.

After a little bit of a scramble to get the table and drinks ready, the family was sitting down to eat, and as they were, talk inevitably turned to the wedding plans. Julia and Alexis agreed to help Castle get the invitations ready to mail out, when his daughter asked them about something she'd been wondering about but had forgotten.

"No Save the Date cards?" Alexis said, looking at them.

"Not enough time," Beckett said. "We toyed with the idea of getting them ready and then mailing the invitations the day after but…" She shook her head before then saying, "We just wanted to get the invitations finished."

"It makes it more concrete than a card with pictures of us on it," Castle said simply. "Which we seem to be wanting," he said as he took Beckett's hand since he was sitting next to her.

"You know there's nothing wrong with eloping," Martha told them.

"We've thought about that, but we don't want to rush the wedding that badly," Beckett said. "We do want our family and friends there with us. So we'll wait three weeks."

"Do you know what you want for the tables?" Alexis asked after they were quiet again.

"Pretty much, we just need to find ribbons, feathers, and the settings," Beckett said. "You know if there was a place in the Hamptons to get all this…" she said, looking at Castle.

"Unfortunately no," he commented. "I thought about that too."

"And where will you be getting the settings?" Martha asked.

"That place on Lexington and 35th," Castle replied. "Luckily we're both of the mind that we don't need to make things too elaborate with that."

"They'll ship everything right?" Beckett asked her fiancé.

"They will, but the glasses we don't need to worry about remember," Castle said.

"One time your parties work out Dad," Alexis teased him.

"I know, I just hope we don't go over fifty people," Castle commented as he picked up his plate and then Beckett's.

"Have you had parties with fifty people?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"Long time ago," Castle said simply, shaking his head. "And it was only a few times, the last two were you Mother."

"Oh, we never burned down the house, so it worked out fine," Martha said with a wave of her hand. "But she likes the glasses you have?"

"They're a nice set, and a simple design," Beckett said, bringing over Julia's plate. "Are we boring you sweetie?" she asked the little girl.

"No, I don't know how to help so what do I say?" Julia replied with a shrug as she brought her glass. "What about to cover tables?"

"See, you are helping," Castle said, taking the glass and leaning down to share a kiss with her. "And you mean the colors of the tablecloth?"

When their daughter nodded, Beckett said, "Blue and white, we're just having black napkins to have the peacock feathers holding the name cards stand out."

"I've got it Dad," Alexis said, taking over for him at the sink. She smiled when he kissed her temple and watched him go to his room.

"Wait, I didn't tell you two, and we didn't tell you Julia," Castle said, pausing and turning. "I asked Kate and Julia to move in with us… well, I asked her since you were asleep by then sweetheart."

"And you want us to react how?" Alexis asked, sharing a glance with her grandmother. When her dad suddenly looked concerned she laughed saying, "Dad, they're living here already basically. And we were betting on when you'd ask her to do that."

"Who won?" Beckett asked in amusement.

"Neither of us," Martha replied. "She said after the wedding you'd probably just move from your place to the new apartment. And I guessed you had asked after Father's Day, Richard."

"No, just asked her last night," Castle commented. "But interesting you're betting so much on our relationship."

"Not actually betting Dad, just guessing," Alexis said. "But if you're worried we don't want you to move in, then I'm pretty sure you would have noticed us having a problem with that when you kept staying night after night up to this point. So we're fine with it, and it's not going to be much of a change."

"Just a problem of where you'll put your things," Martha said.

"I'm planning on giving my landlord notice next week, and if I need to I can put our things in storage temporarily in my dad's guest bedroom," Beckett explained. "We're going to wait until we get closer to the wedding to get started on buying the apartment, since we're already busy with the wedding, and I need to head back to work Wednesday, it's going to be too much stress. So we'll be crowded in here a little longer."

"It's not that bad," Martha said as Julia took her hand. "And I'll enjoy having my granddaughters here for a little longer."

"Okay, well, I'm going to start bringing our clothes, and sweetie, later today we can stop and get Kauai," Beckett directed to her daughter.

"He can move in too?" Julia asked eagerly.

"He can," Alexis said, laughing when everyone looked to her. "For the time being it's our room; remember we're getting rooms at the new place. So I won't mind having a pet for now."

"I should have realized they'd be okay with it," Castle said as he and his fiancée went into his room. "You're virtually living here already. But I forgot how much stress you'll be having with the wedding and then work once you go back."

"I'll be alright," Beckett said, knowing then he was thinking about the baby. "For now let's focus on the wedding, the sooner we have everything ready, the sooner we don't have to worry about it."

"Good point," Castle said with a nod before he gave her his biggest suitcase. "What about your shoes?"

"I have a duffle bag I can use for our shoes," Beckett reminded him. "And we have space in your closet for them. But something else I thought about, what about all the stuff I have decorating my place?"

"Well, your picture is coming with us, I figure in the office that's in our room, it has that wide wall," Castle replied.

"You like the picture that much?" Beckett asked, a smile on her face.

"I do, but I wonder if you'd mind switching to more of a… Hindu themed décor, instead of Buddha," Castle said hesitatingly.

Smiling Beckett said, "I don't know why that head bothers you, but it can go, actually, I'm thinking of putting a lot for sale because I'd like us to decorate together. Anything you want to bring with us to the new place?"

"We'll go through our personal stuff together and then see what we both like," Castle suggested. "But I would like to have pictures like I do above the shelves."

"Your small black and white pictures?" Beckett asked. When he nodded she then said, "But not those exactly."

"I'd like to leave them for Mother if she wants to keep them," Castle said. "No, what I want to do in the library is get pictures you and Julia have taken, make them black and white and hang them on the smaller wall space there is."

"Really?" Beckett asked, touched by that. When he nodded she smiled and wrapped her arms around him, letting go of the suitcase to kiss him. She moaned slightly when he responded, and could have kept that up for much longer if it hadn't been so necessary to breathe. But finally she pulled away and sighed saying, "I should go or we won't get anything done. But we should tell Julia your idea, she'll love it."

"I know, later though," Castle said, kissing her a final time before letting her go and following her out to the door. "Text me when you're coming back," he told her.

"I will," Beckett said. "Are we still going out to the Russian Tea Room for lunch?" she asked.

Turning to his mother, Alexis and Julia who nodded at that, Castle laughed slightly and said, "I think that's a yes. But it can be linner of course if you need that time to pack."

"I do," Beckett said simply. She turned to Julia who had run over to them telling her, "Listen to your daddy, and I'll be right back okay?"

"Kay, I hope you don't get sad 'cause it's quiet over there," Julia commented. "Talk to Kauai, he'll talk to you."

"I will," Beckett said before they shared a kiss. She called a goodbye to her fiancé's mother and daughter before turning to him. "I'll be fine," she told him when he started to open his mouth to speak. "I won't over pack and if I need you to come and help, I'll text."

"Thank you, though I'm sorry I'm worrying this soon," Castle said.

"I expected it," Beckett said with a shrug. She then shared a kiss with him, only hugging him with one arm so the suitcase in her other hand reminded her she needed to go; also that they weren't alone. So they were soon parting and she said, "Have fun with the invitations." Leaving the loft, she went out to the curb where a cab was waiting, and settled back after telling the driver the address to her loft.

When she reached her lobby, Beckett was held up by Mrs. Parker, but she felt she needed to talk to the woman, explaining that she and Julia were going to be moving in with Castle. She didn't really let on that the wedding was three weeks away; she and her fiancé had an invitation for the woman and she would receive it shortly. She wondered though if she would be attending as she left, since at that point, she never really had her babysit Julia. She sighed, knowing the move was going to end some friendships with her neighbors, but she was more focused on the wedding and she knew she would try and keep in touch with the woman, though wasn't sure if the second move would help that. Shaking her head as she was on her floor, she went to her door and opened it, setting aside the suitcase before turning around.

The living room was a mess, everything knocked over or upended as if there had been a hurricane through the place. Beckett walked towards her room, when she nearly skidded to a stop as Rizzio appeared in the doorway. She was unarmed, having left her weapon at Castle's since she had no use for it; until that moment. She turned and was about to start running for the closet where her backup was, but she head the metallic click of it, and froze, knowing he had found it. "Rizzio-" she started to say.

"Come here Katherine," the former officer said, gesturing her with his other hand, which held another, larger gun. "Now," he said. When she walked to him he stepped up to her and holstered her back up before turning her around hard. "On your knees," he told her. "On your knees Katherine," he almost shouted, kicking at the back of her left knee. Once she was down he said, "Hands behind your back."

"Rizzio, please, I have a child," Beckett said, knowing that if she was going to try to get away, she would have to be able to fight him. And she knew from the Academy he was as skilled in martial arts as Reynolds; it would be an even match and she had far more to lose than he did. Never mind the fact that he was armed.

"Oh, I know," Rizzio told her as he quickly handcuffed her. "Harris was an idiot you know, always restrain you from behind."

Hearing the name, Beckett could feel her heart pounding in her chest at the realization he'd studied the case of her abduction and near rape. "R-" she began.

"No, no Katherine," Rizzio said, handcuffing her ankles. "I know how you move, how you fight. There's not going to be any. And not just because of what you're hiding." At her glance at him he said simply, "I know," having to pause as he got some duct tape of the roll he had on him. "That you've been letting him touch you. He saw me when I watched you both. Begging him like a whore Katherine, that's not you."

"Please, just don't hurt me," Beckett said, not liking the fact that she was begging, but having no other choice, the baby first in her mind. She bit her lower lip as he taped her legs as well as her arms, and she tried to move them, but he'd been too thorough. "Rizzio," she began as he moved away from her. Out of desperation, she tried to move her entire body, falling to the ground, but still trying to move towards the door.

Sighing, Rizzio went around to her and knelt next to her as she cringed, "He wants to see you first before anyone comes, so I guess I'll have to use this. Funny, I used it on both you and the writer; see which of you goes faster," holding up the rag with chloroform. "Oh, and I'll settle things up with him, so you'll be free, the baby though, we'll talk about when everything's said and done."

"No, don't, please," Beckett said, trying to throw herself away from him as she panicked realizing he knew about her pregnancy. But he was too quick and even shot twice in the shoulder, he was holding the rag over her mouth forcefully, and her last thoughts were for her family as she succumbed to the nothingness of unconsciousness.

* * *

"Alright, so that'll be it for the invitations finally, really wish Wes hadn't taken so long to get a hold of, but at least after all that time, we have a DJ for the reception," Castle was saying to Julia and Alexis. "They're all ready to mail; Kate and I will do that before we go to the Hamptons. Do you want to come?" he asked his daughter since he knew Beckett would want Julia with them.

"I have practice, and I'll be there after the wedding, we'll probably stay to the last minute, so you three can go on your own," Alexis said. "Think you'll stay the night."

"Most likely, you know your sister loves it there," Castle commented as Julia left to get something to drink. "And Kate too. Speaking of my fiancée," he said as his phone shook with a text. "She must have taken a while picking what she wanted; or needs my help…"

"What is it?" Alexis asked, seeing his frown.

"I… oh god," was all that Castle said. "Call Ryan and tell them to get to Kate's apartment!" he yelled to his daughter as he ran into his room before racing out the door.

"Dad!" Alexis said, having to run after Julia who started to go after him.

"Mommy! Something's wrong with Mommy!" the little girl screamed, trying to get out of her sister's hold. When she wouldn't let go, closing and locking the door, Julia started to sob, almost collapsing to the floor if Martha hadn't picked her up as Alexis was dialing frantically on her phone. Both of them were talking about what was wrong, but she didn't care what it was, only knew her mother was in trouble, and Castle was going to be too.


	14. Ghosts Appear And Fade Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Overkill written by Colin Hay and performed by the band Men at Work, from their album Cargo.

The slap to her cheek was hard, and the sound and the pain of it brought her around, making Beckett look about to see she was on the floor of her room, facing the wall where the windows were. She tried to move, tried to breathe, but found she was still immobile, and her mouth was covered with tape.

"Katherine," Rizzio said, leaning over her. "He's on his way, but until then, we need to talk." With that he picked her up and leaned her against the wall so she was on her knees. "You really thought I wouldn't find out?" he asked, tapping her stomach with the gun. He frowned at her flinch and grew angry saying, "Why do you care? It's nothing but a mistake."

Beckett let her head fall to look at the ground, trying to move her arms up and down to be able to get them loose. But not even that motion was helping; he had taped her limbs together too tightly and it hadn't loosened in the time she'd been unconcious.

"Look at me Katherine," Rizzio snapped, swinging the back of his hand across her cheek, making her hit the bricks of the wall. "He wants it alive, but it would be so easy to pull this trigger, and boom, our problems are solved," he said.

Recovering from the slap, Beckett could feel the blood on her tongue as her teeth had cut into the side of her mouth. She was able to hear what he'd said though, even as she was feeling the blood dripping from her nose and she tried to move, somehow, to get away from him. But he was taking her chin in his hand hard and shaking his head said, "You want it don't you?"

Groaning as he suddenly grabbed her hair, Beckett felt the muzzle of the gun against her stomach, and she couldn't move, couldn't do a thing to protect her baby. She closed her eyes, expecting the searing pain of a bullet, but instead, Rizzio let her go.

"He's here," the man said, standing up at the sound of a knock. "Don't even try to leave Katherine, he's what we need to get ourselves out of here, get our lives started."

As soon as he was gone, Beckett tried to move, again attempting to get free of her constraints. She only managed to fall over, and moaned as the shock of hitting the floor made her bite into the side of her mouth again. It was then she heard footsteps, different from Rizzio's, and then a second pair before the door to her room slightly closed, hearing the creak of the hinges. She was picked up and leaned against the wall, and when she saw the face of Jerry Tyson, she jerked back, only able to groan out her reaction at seeing him.

"Hello Beckett," Tyson said, studying her as he knelt next to her. "I can see you didn't stop believing I was dead. But you need to listen to your fiancé more; I learned to become an excellent diver."

Scooting back from him as she tried to put distance between them, Beckett heard the sound of a gun cocking and she looked up to see a tall, bearded man with it in his hand in front of the door. He was holding it casually, but the way his eyes bore into her, she knew he could kill her instantly if he wanted to.

"Meet my protection," Tyson said, nodding to the man. "I thought I might need to have some extra persuasion to get you to listen to me. So some congratulations are in order. You and Castle are getting married." At Beckett's closing of her eyes he said simply, "I knew, Rizzio was nice enough to keep me informed about you two. And now I found out you're going to have a baby with Castle. You two seem to have your lives all set." At that his hand snaked out and gripped her hair tightly, bringing her up against his face. "But you've taken my chance to have my life back, numerous times. I couldn't kill again, not without telling everyone I was alive. But I've left the entire city a wonderful potential time bomb if you two won't leave me to live my life."

"Man, can I look at her room?" the other man asked as Tyson paused.

"Not now," he replied quickly. "I'll get you pictures later when we go." He then turned to Beckett and said, "He's a rapist, but deadly with a gun. Oh, and I should mention he's a pedophile, he's seen your daughter and wants to meet her, or at the least see her room." He laughed as she jerked against him, anger in her eyes and he let her do so before slamming his hand flat on the side of her face, pushing her against the white brick to her muffled cry of pain. "I can keep him away from her Beckett."

Tyson stood up then and looking out the window said, "People come to me now, they want to learn how I do it, how I kill, how I become a ghost, only to reappear when it's necessary or I want to. I've got a following, and I've taught them every last thing I know. How do you think Rizzio learned how to do everything he did? I told the idiot framing Castle was not going to work, but it distracted you from thinking I had anything to do with what he did. But others know what to do, and they will strike out at you should you and Castle try to find them and me."

Beckett looked up at Tyson, thinking he meant they would harm her and Castle, but the killer opened his mouth to speak; and everything came crashing down around her.

"No, not you and him, but your little girl, and this one," Tyson replied, motioning to her stomach. "There's nothing to lose if you and Castle are killed, but children? And children that you love? You're parents now, what's more important? Especially to you Detective Beckett? Your children or your job?" He grabbed her by the hair again, and titled her head back to look up at him before telling her, "None of them will hesitate to do so. They'll kill Julia now, and then your baby as soon as it's born if you don't go.

"And I don't just mean go from the NYPD, I mean from this city," Tyson said. "I want to be able to roam at will, and hide in the darkness where you two seem to love going. You have a home in the Hamptons, and that has become your safety zone Beckett. We won't venture there, solve murders with the local PD all you want, raise your children without the need to keep them close to you to prevent all my followers the chance to repay you both for taking my life away."

Beckett closed her eyes, but Tyson was suddenly slapping her face and she could feel blood starting to trickle from her nose again as he made her look up at him.

"If you don't believe me, there'll be a sign, which only you and Castle will understand, because you've shared that interest, tomorrow," Tyson said. "Go to the Hamptons Beckett, save your children."

Beckett watched, her eyes blurred with tears at the ultimatum though there was still a part of her that thought he was out of his mind. She was a little dazed at the fact that 3XK was still alive, and he had decided to declare war on her and Castle, using their kids as collateral. Before she could give another attempt at trying to free herself, she felt herself suddenly being picked up, and she tilted her head back, a grunt of disgust escaping her lips as Rizzio tried to kiss her through the tape.

"He told you? See, the baby is too much of a risk for you Katherine," the man told her, holding her around the waist before he put her down on her bed. "Let me just-" he said, getting his gun ready to aim at her abdomen. But she managed a weak kick and got the gun out of his hand, which seemed to tell him more than her words had to him at the warehouse. "So you've made your choice?" he nearly yelled at her. "You want him when he's been with so many other women before you, you'd be lucky if he ever saw the woman you are. He must have touched you, hurt you to knock you up."

Turning onto her stomach the best she could as Rizzio leveled his gun at her stomach after picking it up off the floor, Beckett closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the shot and apologizing to the baby in her mind as her tears coursed down her cheeks in hot trails. But instead of a shot, she was almost thrown onto her back and she flinched at the loud click of the empty revolver he'd suddenly come up with.

"One bullet Katherine," Rizzio said, his eyes taking on a kind of demented look. "One and I could get rid of this-" a loud click of his gun echoed then. "And you're free for me. But I'd have to rape you, and I wouldn't stop. I know what Harris tried to do, and I learned how to do it better than he did. Tyson was very helpful in introducing me to men who'd know how to make you submit."

Feeling literally sick as her memories of Queens she'd thought she'd managed to suppress came roaring back through her mind, Beckett tried to slide over to the edge of the bed, and had nearly made it before she was grabbed by her shoulders.

"I love you Katherine, and you throw that away as if it were nothing but trash!" Rizzio yelled at her. "I tell you I can give you everything and you go with this writer who's got nothing but a past that you will be fighting against forever. You-" And with that he cut himself off, starting to punch at her face once, before he began to slap at her, his fury over having to wait so long for her boiling over into a red, hot rage.

The first punch made Beckett see stars, the slaps to her face nearly knocked her out, until finally he reached for her neck, strangling her. Her attempts to move weren't able to happen, her legs and arms bound together for so long they were numb. She could only try and turn her head, though his hand had found her face more often than not. When he suddenly stopped choking her, she tried to breathe through her nose before he was grabbing her again, hissing to her that he was finished and tired of waiting; he would kill her and the baby.

"And then what will the girl do?" Rizzio taunted her, wanting to see the pain in her eyes. "Become her mother and try to find who killed her mother and sibling? I know how to hide. She'll be you, never loving anyone because of her past. She'll be worthless, a woman never having a thing in her life but her pain." And with that, he let go of her neck and delivered yet another backhand, striking Beckett as hard as he could, sending her into unconsciousness for a second time as she couldn't recover from her near strangling along with the added pain. He picked up his gun when he heard the sound of the door opening, and the heavy footsteps made him smile as he picked up Beckett's limp body by the waist, knowing it was time to get rid of the one thing that had driven the object of his obsession away from him.

* * *

Reaching the door, Castle had to get his key out without displacing Beckett's gun in his pocket. He managed to get it, not bothering with the top lock as he'd seemed to know that it would be unlocked. Opening the door slowly, he looked down the hall in both directions before he withdrew the weapon, holding it in front of him before he stepped inside. He stayed in the entryway, seeing the absolute mess that Rizzio had made of his fiancée's apartment and he took a few careful steps forward, looking for any sign of Beckett.

Reading the text that he knew was from the former officer, Castle had known there was something wrong with his fiancée as she had put his name, and they never did that in their texts back and forth as an extra precaution. So seeing his name suddenly was enough to let him know that Rizzio had her, though how he'd thought of the man who was supposed to be laid up in the hospital, he didn't know. What was more important was finding him and making sure that Beckett was alright, as he went to her desk, seeing something dark on the floor behind it. When he reached it though, he only saw it was a pile of books in shadow, and he whirled around hearing a thud.

Running out to the living room, Castle was suddenly struck after the sharp pop of a gun went off, a bullet grazing his shoulder and knocking him to the ground, also knocking the gun from his hand. He tried to recover, blood running over his shoulder almost instantly, and it was then he saw Rizzio disappearing from the doorway to the bedrooms. He scrambled to grab the gun that had slid to the wall, and as he stood back up, saw the man coming out, his fiancée bound and gagged in his arms. "Let her go Rizzio," he said, his mouth suddenly dry as he saw where the man was aiming his weapon. Not at Beckett's head, but at her stomach. It was then he knew that the killer was aware of the pregnancy, and he couldn't wait for Ryan and Esposito to join him, too much at stake for that.

"She chose you writer," Rizzio said, going along the wall as Castle tracked him. "But I'll make her change her mind. Just need to get you out of the way, I don't care what the hell he told me to do, that he needs you alive."

"Who needs me alive?" Castle asked though he was looking at Beckett, trying to see if she was seriously injured. Her head was bowed down, so he couldn't discern that, only able to hope she wasn't and their baby was unharmed.

"What does it matter," Rizzio said simply. "You'll be dead and so will this," he said, tapping his gun against Beckett's abdomen.

Things seemed to slow down then, as Rizzio swung his arm up, aiming at Castle just as Ryan and Esposito were heard running down the hall. Castle fired, having been ready to do so since he'd first seen the killer and the shot pierced Rizzio's already wounded shoulder near his collarbone, though he'd still managed to get a shot off his own gun. Castle was forced to the ground as Rizzio let go of Beckett, her body slamming to the floor, and the killer was able to recover, aiming yet again as the two detectives came inside in time to see Castle aim for his head. He reached his target, and Rizzio was jerked back to the picture, slamming against the wall before collapsing to the floor.

"Kate!" Castle said once he'd recovered from that and found he was unhurt except for the wound already on his arm. He ran to her, pushing Rizzio's body off of her legs, trying to get the duct tape that went all the way up to her knees off.

"Here," Ryan said, handing Castle a knife. He looked at his partner who was checking on Rizzio, not surprised when Esposito shook his head. He turned back to the writer and saw he was taking off the handcuffs linked together around her ankles with a key.

"Kate, love," Castle said, in a frenzy to get her free as he cut away the tape on her arms and got the handcuffs off. As soon as he had gotten the tape off her mouth as carefully as he could, he was gathering her in his arms and holding her tightly, dimly hearing Ryan saying something about an ambulance already coming. He glanced down her body, trying not to imagine a sign that she was going to lose the baby, but it was hard not to as he could see from the bruising on her face and blood seeping between her lips that she had gone through hell. But there was nothing that indicated if she was, so he tried to take some comfort in that as he looked back at her face. "Kate?" he asked, seeing her eyes behind their lids were moving back and forth. "Love, it's me," he murmured as they opened slowly. "Love?" he asked as she just stared at him.

Abruptly, Beckett began to cough, her breathing obstructed by the blood that had remained in her mouth, and she felt her face being tilted to the side so she wouldn't choke. When her airway was clear, and slumped back, looking up at her fiancé and she was able to whisper, "Castle… the baby…" before paramedics came into the room.

Though he wanted to ask her if something was wrong with the baby, Castle had to step back and let the EMTs place her on a backboard before getting her on the stretcher. He looked at Ryan who was still in the room and said, "I need to go-"

"Go, I'll get your statements there when she can talk," the detective said quickly as Esposito came out from Beckett's bedroom.

"Get yourself cleaned up Castle," Esposito called after the writer as he was following Beckett out.

A little confused as to what he was talking about, Castle looked down at his left arm, and saw the blood that had seeped all the way down to his hand. But he didn't really have much time to think about it, as he fit himself into the elevator. As they were going down he told the EMTs, "She's pregnant."

"How far?" the woman asked, looking at her partner.

"Almost a month," Castle said, taking Beckett's hand with his right.

"Alright, ma'am, do you remember what happened?" the female paramedic asked Beckett.

"He hit me, tried to strangle me, but stopped before he did twice," Beckett murmured. "They both hit me."

"Alright, were you hit in the stomach at all? Do you feel any pain in your abdomen?" the woman asked as they pushed the stretcher into the lobby. At Beckett's quick shake of her head she said, "They'll look at you at the hospital, for now we need to stop the bleeding in your mouth," putting a small roll of gauze into Beckett's mouth.

"Will she need stitches?" Castle asked, watching. His question wasn't answered though, as they had reached the ambulance, and he had to step back to let them put her inside. "I'm her fiancé," he told them as he climbed into the back.

"Fine, it'll save another ambulance from coming to get you," the woman said as her partner went to the front to drive. She then worked to get Beckett buckled into the stretcher, and proceeded to clean her face of blood before asking Castle, "Are you in pain?"

"Slightly," he answered, still not feeling the pain of his own wound. He was watching Beckett as the blood slowly disappeared from her face, and cringed inwardly at the sight of the purpling bruise just under her right eye. He wanted to reach out to her, to take her hand, but all Castle could do was press the very tips of his fingers against her arm as they raced to the hospital.

* * *

"Sir! Just calm down please and we'll let you go see her," the nurse was saying as the security guard was having little luck in keeping Castle from leaving the room.

"I'm fine," he told everyone around him. "I need to see my fiancée."

"Castle," Esposito said, coming inside as he'd heard the desperation in the nurse's voice. "Calm down bro, Beckett's being looked at right now, so you can't see her yet."

"Is she okay?" Castle asked.

"I don't know, but she's being taken care of okay? But you know she'd kick your ass for not getting that cleaned up," Esposito said, seeing the state of Castle's shirt at his left shoulder.

"Am I going to be arrested?" Castle said as he finally let the nurse get his shirt off.

"No, we told Gates we were there and it was complete self defense," Esposito assured him. "And he was protected from the neck down, except for his shoulders, so there wasn't any other way you could save Beckett or yourself since that first shot didn't stop him."

"How did he escape?" Castle asked.

"He had help," Esposito told him. "Ryan called you but you didn't pick up, we guessed you left your phone at home. But the cameras on Rizzio's room at the hospital were knocked out remotely, tech can't find out from where though. And someone called off the police outside his room, told them they could go on their break early as the doctor was going to come in. Only thing is we don't know if it was a doctor."

"If Bracken was still alive I'd say it was him," Castle said, hissing as the nurse was dabbing alcohol against his wound. "Will I need stitches?" he asked her.

"It's not deep enough, you'll have to be careful not to stretch it out though," she told him.

"What about Beckett's apartment?" Castle asked.

"The key that Carisbrooke used to get inside is missing from evidence, but it's back at her place, on Rizzio's body," Esposito replied. "So he planned this, but he couldn't have gotten that gear alone."

"I don't know," Castle said as the nurse was taping gauze on his shoulder. "We haven't really had any indication that he had someone with him besides Reynolds, and he's dead."

"We'll be looking into it," Esposito said as Castle was handed a scrubs shirt and allowed to get down from the bed. "He can go?" he asked the nurse.

"He can, do you need any painkillers?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Castle said simply. "Did you let our family know what happened?"

"Ryan called them, but only said that Beckett was being checked out," Esposito replied as they went to the nearest elevator. "They seemed pretty horrified."

"And Gates?" Castle asked.

"She's leaving this for us to investigate," Esposito replied as they stepped out onto the sixth floor where he'd found out Beckett was.

Nodding, Castle went to the nurse's station, speaking with the one there behind the desk. But since his fiancée was still being examined by the doctor, he could only return to the waiting room, where he went to a window, leaning against the sill and looking out at the city while Esposito and Ryan watched him at the other end of the room.

"You know I wasn't sure before," Esposito said. "About him," he told his partner when Ryan looked at him questioningly. "But he loves her."

"I told you," Ryan said simply. "And Beckett does love him; just watch them together to see how they are."

Esposito nodded, when he heard the elevator door open and the sound of sniffing made him turn to see it was Julia, carried by her grandfather and followed by Castle's mother and Alexis. "We don't know anything yet," he told them before Julia made her grandfather put her down. They all watched as the little girl raced over to Castle and then turning to the others said, "She's still being checked out by the doctor."

Throwing herself at Castle, Julia buried her face against his side before she felt him picking her up. She started to cry asking, "Is Mommy kay?"

"I'm not sure yet sweetheart," Castle told her, turning to lean against the sill. He stroked her hair saying, "But she's getting help so we'll find out soon."

"Dad," Alexis said, coming up to them carefully, not sure if he wanted to really talk to anyone else. When he gathered her in his arm with his free one she heard him grunt before she felt the bulk of the bandage under his shirt. She opened her mouth, but quickly cut herself off as she didn't want to alarm her sister. But she understood then why he was wearing a scrubs shirt. "She'll be fine," she said, not sure if they were empty words or not for the two.

"She should be," Castle then said, wondering why he hadn't said that to Julia in the first place. But he'd been worrying so much about both Beckett and the baby that he'd been thinking more negatively than he should have. "She will be," he said with more confidence, though he wasn't sure about the baby still; that being the unknown. "A doctor is looking at her right now, checking to make sure she's okay and then she'll come home with us," hoping that would be the case. He glanced over at his mother, Jim and Ryan who were near them; guessing Esposito had left to get back to the case; and he was about to speak when a voice called his name. "Here," he told his daughter, quickly handing her Julia. He kissed them both, promising to come back to take them to see Beckett, before jogging to the nurse. "I'm Castle," he told her. "Is she alright?"

"Come with me please," the nurse told him simply. She led him down the hall and up to a door where a doctor was standing.

"Mr. Castle?" the woman asked, shaking his hand. "Your fiancée is doing fine, I took the precaution of having an x-ray done of her throat as she mentioned passing out after nearly being strangled, which you heard on the way here. But I've looked at the pictures and she looks to be fine. Just some lacerations on the inside of her mouth that have stopped bleeding and contusions on her face and neck. But nothing too serious, she'll be allowed to go home after I complete my check up on the baby she's carrying."

"Is it okay?" Castle asked, his heart in his throat at that.

"I think so, but she's insisting I make sure of it," the doctor replied. "So I'll be performing an ultrasound. For now, you can go in to see her."

Nodding his thanks, Castle nearly raced into the room after opening the door, and he paused seeing his fiancée on the bed inside, eyes closed and looking as if she was asleep. He closed the door behind him and then allowed himself to hurry to her side, pulling up a chair before he took her hand, kissing the palm before pressing it to his cheek.

"Hey," Beckett said, getting his attention. She was a little startled seeing the tears in his eyes and she said, "You were that worried?"

"About both of you," Castle said simply. "I still am for…" he began before trailing off, resting his hand on her stomach. When she covered his hand with her own and squeezed it he asked, "No pain or anything?"

"No, but… I'm not going to be able to relax until I'm sure it's okay," Beckett said. She pulled on his hand until he stood, and took his kiss which was what she'd wanted him to do. She wasn't really okay with how quickly he did that, soon sitting down again, but knew he was going to be very careful as she'd been told she had livid red marks on her neck. She noticed that he had a scrubs shirt on and asked, "Were you hurt?"

"Yeah, Rizzio shot at me, grazed me but I'm fine," Castle said, waving it away as nothing. "But you?" he asked, looking at her face.

"We'll be matching for the wedding," Beckett said before she frowned and looked at the door. "Castle, there's something you need to know, about what happened before you came," she said, seeing the concern on his face at her tone. Taking a deep breath she began with, "Tyson is alive," and with that told him exactly what the serial killer had told her, not stopping to let her fiancé speak until she'd finished, laying back against the bed, watching him for his reaction.

Trying to take everything in at once, Castle went back to what she'd said first saying, "He's alive."

"You said that before when-" Beckett said in a little irritation.

"No, I believe you Kate, I do, I'm just trying to understand all of this," Castle said. "But he threatened our-" he started to say before the door started to open. "We'll talk about this later," he told her quickly before the doctor came in with a nurse pushing in a machine.

"Alright Ms. Beckett," the doctor said once the nurse had prepped her patient. "Have you undergone this before?"

"No, I was going to go back to my doctor at the beginning of September," Beckett replied, watching as the doctor ran the probe around her stomach. She looked at the monitor on the machine, reaching for Castle's hand before they entwined their fingers together.

"Are you going to be able to see much?" Castle couldn't help asking as it took a moment for the doctor to find the baby.

"Not really, but you can see there is something…" the doctor trailed off before turning the monitor to them both so they could see better.

"That's it?" Beckett asked, a little startled the slight circle of white on the grainy image was their baby. She shook her head; as she'd seen already in a pregnancy book what a month old fetus looked like; and then said, "So you can't tell if it's okay?"

"Well, with it being that small, there's not much we can do to," the doctor replied. "But I explained that if you're not feeling any cramps and you're not bleeding, then the baby should be okay. What I would suggest," the doctor said, pressing a few buttons. "Is that you take it easy the rest of the day, not bed rest, but nothing strenuous such as exercise."

"Thank you," Castle said as he looked at the picture of the ultrasound that the doctor had given Beckett.

"I'll release you now," the woman said. "So you can leave whenever you'd like."

"I…" Beckett said when they were alone, trailing off as she was still looking at the picture. "This is inside of me."

Castle didn't reply, since he knew it was a statement and not a question, but he could understand her shock, their baby little more than a speck inside her womb. He opened his mouth to speak, when the nurse knocked on the door.

"I'm sorry, but there's a Detective Ryan outside in the waiting room, asking for you both," the woman told them.

"We should go," Beckett said, not surprised when Castle nodded in agreement. She handed him the picture of the baby and once the same nurse had brought in a wheelchair she sat down, wearing a scrubs shirt like Castle; as they'd taken hers away; and her jeans since they hadn't been soaked in blood like her shirt. "I still need to go to my place," she told her fiancé as he wheeled her down to the waiting room.

"Are you sure?" Castle asked, surprised she wanted to go back.

"I'm not going to run away from it," Beckett said. "But we're not living there again," she said simply. "We need to start moving everything out."

"Not today though," Castle commented, an idea coming to mind at that. He wanted to tell her about it, but with their family rushing up to her, he had to set it aside for the moment as she hugged and kissed their daughter.

"We're alright," Beckett whispered since she could see Ryan a little further back in the room to give them privacy. "And I can go home, but I would be grateful if you all headed back to the loft; if you want to go Dad," she added.

"You're going to work?" Martha asked.

"No," Beckett replied, shaking her head. "I need to go to the apartment and Castle and I will start getting our clothes." When her dad, Martha and Alexis started to protest she quickly held up her hand saying, "He'll be with me, and I will be careful." She then turned her attention to Julia and said gently, "Can you go back with them sweetie?" as she kissed her temple.

"Kay, but you're kay?" Julia asked, her chin wobbling as she glanced again at her mother's bruises.

"I'm fine, and we're just going to talk to your uncle," Beckett said, nodding in Ryan's direction. "And get some clothes and then come home."

"I love you Mommy," Julia said, hugging her tightly around the neck.

"I love you so much Julia," Beckett said, hugging her close and kissing her cheek. Tyson's words echoed in her head, and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly at that, before she felt her fiancé's hand on her shoulder. After their family had left, she looked up at him and said, "What do I say about Tyson?"

"Just say he threatened us," Castle said. "If we send Ryan and Espo in to investigate him, we don't want him jumping the gun on that proof he mentioned. Ready?" At Beckett's nod, he pushed her over to their partner and sitting in the chair next to her, took her hand as she recounted being caught unarmed in her apartment as Ryan was writing everything down.

* * *

Walking into her apartment, Beckett slowed down slightly, seeing the large blank space where her picture should have been. She went over to it, getting close enough to see the two bullet holes; one at Rizzio's shoulder, the other at his head. She turned to him saying, "I see letting you practice at the range helped."

"It did, but I was lucky on that first shot, you were so close in his arm," Castle said, shaking his head. "Do you want to talk now?"

"No, not here, it'll just bring back memories," Beckett said quickly before walking into her room. "Was his blood on the picture?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Castle told her, following with the suitcase.

"No, it's better you saved us instead of the picture," Beckett said, going to her armoire. After changing out of the scrubs shirt as he changed into a shirt still there in his drawer, she began to pull out clothes at random, wanting to go home as quickly as possible as at some point, the apartment had long since ceased being her home. She folded quickly, turning to the dresser when she was suddenly stopped, looking into her fiancé's eyes. "I'm fine, just… like I told you, I don't want to remember for now, I've had to remember enough," she told him, referring to having to give her statement to Ryan. After they'd told him about Tyson, he'd left to tell Esposito and Gates, and she had been dreading a call from the Captain, though none had been forthcoming so far.

"We-" Castle started to say when her phone rang.

"It's Espo," Beckett said, getting it out of her pocket. "Yeah? Oh, she did… and Castle? Of course," she said, rolling her eyes at what the detective was saying on the other end. "We'll come in tomorrow, but we can't look into Tyson… great, thanks."

"So we can go back, and we don't have to look into Tyson," Castle guessed before she could speak.

Nodding, Beckett went back to her clothes before she had filled the suitcase halfway. She started on her shoes, putting them into the duffel bag that Castle was holding for her. "Alright, some of Julia's things, and then we can go."

"Maybe we should have come tomorrow," Castle suggested, having been watching her avoid the wall where the windows were.

"No, we needed clothes, I just need a little time," Beckett said simply. She headed out to Julia's room, and was relieved when he brought the suitcase and bag with him. She was able to pack a lot faster, and once she'd gotten some of Julia's shoes, they were leaving her apartment. During the ride to Castle's she leaned against him, exhausted with the emotions she was keeping at bay and knowing she and her fiancé needed to talk; uneasy as to what they might decide.

Sitting on the couch with her Stitch doll in her arms, Julia looked up as she heard the faint sound of footsteps outside. Going to the door, she managed to get out of the way as Castle let her mother go inside first. Running to Beckett, she wrapped her arms around her, pressing her cheek to her abdomen. "I didn't say is the baby kay?" she whispered.

"Let your mom sit sweetheart," Castle said, setting the suitcase and duffle bag aside. Going to the couch he had Beckett sit before he asked her, "Should we show them?"

"Show us what?" Alexis asked.

"This," Castle replied at Beckett's nod. He pulled the picture of the ultrasound from his back pocket.

"That's the baby?" Alexis asked in amazement.

"I'm not even a full month along," Beckett reminded them, unable to help smiling at the different expressions on her dad's, Martha's and Alexis' faces as they studied the picture. "But the baby should be okay."

"Can I see?" Julia asked, burning with curiosity about the photograph, but not wanting to move. When Castle handed it to her she studied it and said, "Is that the baby?" seeing the spot in the space of black.

"Mmm-hmm," Beckett said, kissing Julia's temple. "So now you know what we mean when we say your brother or sister has a lot of growing to do."

Sighing, Julia handed the picture to her mother and leaning against her asked, "Are you still gonna get married?"

"Of course," Castle said, sitting with his fiancée and their daughter at his mother's insistence. "And we're still having it the seventeenth. So, we've got some time until dinner, what do we do?"

"You don't want to rest?" Martha asked Beckett.

"I am now," she replied. "But why don't we work on the tree pictures? I still need to do mine though Castle and Alexis are done with theirs."

"I can get some of the arts and crafts stuff we have for Julia," Alexis said quickly. "Come on Jules, let's get everything ready."

When the two were gone, Martha turned to her son saying, "You were hurt Richard."

"It's nothing," Castle said quickly, knowing his fiancée was looking at him. "Just got grazed and I feel perfectly fine."

Before anyone could comment on that, Alexis and Julia were coming down the stairs, and while the others were gathering around the table, Castle poured some tea for them that his mother had started. They were quiet at first, until Julia giggled softly at something Castle had said, and that seemed to break the tension they were all feeling, and they began to talk as they usually did as things became less of an effort to assure the little girl that everything was fine and more because they were relieved nothing had happened to Castle, Beckett and the baby.

* * *

"You'll take it easy tomorrow I hope," Jim was saying to his daughter as he was telling her goodbye after dinner.

"I will," Beckett assured him. "I'm not exactly back to work, just going to help Ryan and Esposito if they need me to; Castle too." She hugged her father tightly and watched him leave before closing the door. Turning she said to her fiancé who was in the kitchen, "I'm not sure what we can do exactly."

The sound of Julia laughing coming down the stairs made Castle share a smile with his fiancée before he told her, "We really need to discuss what we'll do."

"I know, but I'm tired, so once we get her to bed then we can talk," Beckett said.

"Fatigue?" Castle asked, getting the kettle full of water then. "And I'm making decaf Earl Grey for you."

"Thank you," Beckett said. "And yes, it's fatigue, but not as bad as it's been since I've been resting a lot since we got home."

"Okay, so since we forgot Kauai when we went to your place," Castle said as he set the kettle on the stove to heat up later. "Tomorrow after we're done at the Precinct, we'll stop by there."

"I think that's all we can plan for now," Beckett said, frowning for a moment before she felt her fiancé's arm come around her. She looked up at him and was about to speak when she heard his mother calling down to them.

"Richard, Kate, Julia is ready to be tucked in," Martha said, coming down enough to see them in the kitchen.

"We're coming," Beckett said, leading the way up into Alexis' room. "Are you ready to sleep sweetie?"

"Yeah, do I really need to go to camp?" Julia asked with a sigh as she was sitting on the bed.

"You do, but we should be able to pick you up," Castle said. "Work shouldn't take too long."

"What about the Hamptons?" Julia asked, hugging Martha first.

"We'll go later this week," Beckett said before the little girl shared a kiss with Castle's mother. She smiled as Julia hugged Alexis tightly and kissed her as well.

"Sweet dreams Julia," Castle said. "And thank you."

"For what?" the little girl asked in surprise.

"For wanting to come with me to go to your mom," Castle said. "You're a brave, unselfish little girl and I love you."

Blushing, Julia nodded once before throwing her arms around him tightly and sharing a kiss with him. When her mother walked up to her she said, "I thought you were hurt Mommy."

"I know, Alexis told me, and thank you for trying to help," Beckett said, hugging the little girl to her tightly. She kissed her temple saying, "I love you so much for that. And you know you don't have to keep us safe; that's what Castle and I will do for you."

"I know, I love you Mommy, you're the best mommy," Julia whispered, hugging her tightly. "And I know you'll keep my little brother or sister safe, you and Castle."

Nodding, Beckett tried not to show the emotions she was struggling with hearing that, but finally was able to tuck Julia in as Castle was saying goodnight to his daughter. She shared a kiss with Julia once she was on the bed, and she followed her fiancé and Martha to the door, waving at Alexis before he closed it.

"Get some rest you two," Martha urged her son and his fiancée. "You both look completely done in."

"We feel like it," Castle said, his arm around Beckett tightly. "And we'll go to bed, just some tea before that."

"Goodnight Martha," Beckett said, taken aback when the woman hugged her.

"I'm sorry, I was worried about you and the baby," Martha said. She cupped her son's cheek and with a goodnight to them both, she went to her room.

"Do you think we can switch that Earl Grey to chamomile?" Beckett asked as they went to the stove.

"Sure, probably better if we want to get any kind of sleep," Castle commented. He busied himself with get the water starting to boil before he went around to get mugs and honey, not noticing Beckett had left him until he turned to hand her her cup. He went to his room, and inside saw that she was looking at her reflection in the mirror next to the bed on his side. "You're still beautiful," he commented, setting the mugs down on the dresser before going to her.

"That's not why I'm looking at myself," Beckett murmured. She turned to her fiancé and stopped him from coming close enough to touch her telling him, "Close the door." As he was doing that, she went to her side of the bed and sat against the headboard. "What if he's serious?"

"About us staying here in NYC, you staying a detective?" Castle asked, sitting next to her on the edge and facing her. "Do you think he is?"

"Look at what he did to get Rizzio to break us down to this point," Beckett replied. "He was behind everything, just using Rizzio's obsession with me as a tool and a decoy." She ran her hand over her stomach saying, "I don't know, I just… he asked me what was more important to me; my job or our children."

"Would you consider resigning?" Castle asked, surprised to hear very little in the way of internal conflict in her tone.

"I don't know," Beckett groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Because if I did, what would I do?" She was surprised when Castle got up then, and she watched him go to his closet, bringing out a book. "What?" she asked since he'd already been starting to sign copies of _Hamptons Heat_ for September when the book would be released.

"I didn't let you take a look at it, because I was waiting to see if there could be any chance of me asking this," Castle said, looking at the cover of the book and not her. Finally he turned his gaze up to her and opened the book to the very last page of his epilogue telling her, "Read the last paragraph."

"Out loud," Beckett asked him, wondering what it was about it that was making him so uneasy. When he nodded, she suddenly felt her chest clench in the worry that he was repeating another plot point, and she turned her attention to the paragraph. " _Walking to the door, Nikki found her resolve beginning to tilt again towards remaining, but she felt Rook's hand on her back, leading her to the jet bridge. She had no way of knowing what she was going to face in Egypt with him, but there was nothing left for her in the city and her future lay beyond the door to the plane, waiting for her; waiting for them_ ," she read before looking up at him. "They… you're finishing the Heat series," she stated, her eyes wide.

"Look at the dedication," Castle said hurriedly.

Flipping to the front of the book, Beckett read, that time to herself, _To Kate, my love, Parvati to my Shiva and yin to my yang. My other half, my soul and my muse. Always._ She bit her lower lip as tears came to her eyes and she whispered, "So I'm still your inspiration, but why finish the series?"

"Because you've broken with Nikki Heat, so much so that even though you're not exactly alike, I'm having a hard time writing her world when I find myself wanting to be with you more," Castle said. "It's why this book was so hard to write. It was so difficult not to throw in a child for them to be with at the Hamptons but that would have made no sense."

"So you'll write about another woman?" Beckett asked, slightly hesitatingly.

"With you," Castle said, looking into her eyes.

"I'm… not a writer," Beckett said, hesitating for a moment. "I've never been."

"No, you have," Castle protested. "I… don't hurt me, but I asked your dad for papers from high school that you wrote, especially if they were stories, and he gave me some. Love, you have the ability, but I could tell you were holding back a little."

"I was only a teenager," Beckett protested, though without much heat behind her words.

"But you're good, it's there, just write with me, and I can help you become a writer," Castle said. "Well, let's write one book together, and see where we go from there," he told her as he held her hand tightly in both of his hands.

Biting her lower lip, Beckett said, "I'll need to see if I decide to resign from the NYPD. But, what about leaving the city, we've grown up here, it's where Julia was born; Alexis too. Could we leave?"

"For the Hamptons we could, because we would be safe," Castle said. "Did he ever mention my mother or Alexis?"

"No," Beckett said softly. "It was just the four of us," she told him as he got on the bed to wrap his arm around her, his free hand resting on her abdomen.

"I realized something when you told me about him saying the Hamptons would be a safe zone," Castle told her. "And it's the fact that Rizzio's pictures were never taken anywhere outside of the city."

Beckett opened her mouth to reply, when she realized he was right and leaned against him, suddenly exhausted. "This can't be real," she told him as he asked her if she was okay. "He can't expect us to believe that we would just leave at his verbal threat."

"He said he would give us a sign to show that he was serious," Castle said. "Should we go to work and let Julia go to camp?"

"It's what he wants us to do if we stay," Beckett said. "But I'm not going to give in to that threat. We'll stay for now, and Wednesday, let's start buying our apartment."

"Okay," Castle said, a little hesitant as he wasn't so sure of Tyson's warning being so benign. But he didn't want to worry her, so he said, "So are you serious about resigning or just waiting? And you know I leave the decision up to you."

"I know, and at the moment I'm waiting," Beckett said. She looked at her fiancé and quickly said, "But I won't hesitate if it becomes something I need to do to protect Julia and our baby. I just pray it won't come to that."

Kissing the side of her head, Castle said, "I think we should get some sleep love." He wasn't surprised when she nodded, knowing that agreement was a mixture of her fatigue from the pregnancy and what she'd gone through that day. He moved so they could change into their pajamas before they lay down under the sheet and as she lay on her back, he brushed his fingertips along her bruise under her eye as gently as she could. "I can't wait to marry you," he murmured.

"Me too," Beckett whispered. She wrapped her arms around him before their lips met in a kiss that became more passionate as time went on. Finally though, she pulled away from him, and told him, "I love you Rick. Thank you for coming to save us."

"I love you too Kate. And I will do whatever I can for my family, always," Castle said before he kissed her gently. He then listened for the sound of her steady breathing to indicate to him that she had fallen asleep. That happened quickly; which wasn't a surprise; and he pressed a lingering kiss to her temple before getting out of bed. Taking the still full mugs of tea to the kitchen, he jumped and sloshed the liquid into the sink as he heard footsteps, turning to see it was his mother. "Can't sleep?" he asked.

"It's fairly early Richard, are you alright?" Martha asked. "Kate?"

"She's fine," Castle said quickly. "We're just…" he began. He sighed and told his mother about Tyson, needing her to know what would happen if 3XK chose to show he was serious.

"My god, no wonder she's been back and forth emotionally since she came home," Martha said, her hand to her chest. "And you too, what will you do?"

"We might be moving to the Hamptons," Castle said simply. "We can't risk Julia and the baby. And you and Alexis are welcome to come, but it's just us four that seem to be a target, the kids especially."

"We'll see what happens," Martha said with a frown. "But could you really move out of the city?" When her son only looked at her she nodded saying, "Alright, but what will she do if she's no longer a detective?"

"Write," a voice said, making the two jump. "Sorry," Beckett said, going to her fiancé. "I noticed you were gone," she told him as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his chest. "Are we crazy for considering all of this?"

"Oh darling, I couldn't say, this is between you and Richard," Castle's mother said, putting her hand on Beckett's shoulder. "But you're considering the right things for your children, and that's what's more important than anything else. You should know though, we'll be behind you, whatever you decide."

"Thank you Mother," Castle said quickly since she had been serious. When Beckett murmured the same he said, "We'll have to tell your dad, and Alexis, and Julia."

"We'll tell them," Beckett said. "When we know what we'll need to do. But for now, come to bed," she told him, taking his hand. "Night Martha."

"Goodnight you two," Castle's mother replied in response to her son's goodnight. She smiled a little as she watched them go into his room and she sighed, hoping things would work out for them as she headed back to her room.

Once the door was closed, Beckett wrapped her arms around her fiancé, bringing him down to her and kissing him deeply. She was relieved when he responded quickly to that, and felt her sense of unease about their future easing slightly. When they parted she murmured, "I have you don't I?"

"Always," Castle said simply before leading her to the bed. When they were settled he held her against his side and stroking her hair, pressed his lips to her forehead. "I think it's more we have each other," he then said.

Smiling Beckett then said, "We do."

Castle shared another kiss with her, and when they'd settled down, listened to their breathing together. He had no idea when he fell asleep, but soon drifted off holding her securely in his arms as he remembered the image of their baby earlier that day.

Though she was fatigued, Beckett took a little longer to fall asleep, her mind going over Tyson's words though she had been trying to keep from doing so. She finally shook herself from that when Castle's hand came to rest on her abdomen. It was that touch that made her let go of the subject that had been heavy on her mind, and she squeezed his hand gently before closing her eyes. And as she tried to fall asleep she was very aware of him holding her close while she shared his thoughts of their baby without knowing it. It helped her drift off much easier than anything else could and gave her a reprieve from the elusiveness of the next day and what they might be facing.


	15. The Speech Of Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song The Answer's at the End by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

_The color red was everywhere, a haze that seemed to be a film over his eyes, which he clawed at, trying to get it off. But it was blood, and as he looked down at his hands he saw a gun in his right, the reality he was in twisting so it was pointed in front of him, bullet flying it into a shadow. And explosion of blood added to the scarlet and he was looking down at a second figure, more of the color spreading underneath her and he fell to his knees, seeing his fiancée's eyes were_

Jerking up in bed, Castle was breathing harshly, looking around him to make sure that he was in his room and not wherever he'd been where even the walls had been coated in blood. Looking over to his left, his saw his fiancée, sleeping, and he groaned under his breath, rubbing his face with his hands a few times to try and shake off the nightmare.

It was then that he realized there was a noise that wasn't his palms on his cheeks, and Castle looked down at Beckett, seeing that her face was contorting slightly. He knew immediately that she was having a nightmare, so he was quick to grab her, trying to carefully shake her awake, when she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up as she cried out, "Rick, the baby!" clutching her stomach.

Breathing wildly, Beckett was a little startled to realize that she was being grabbed by her arms and she looked at her fiancé. She suddenly remembered what she'd said coming from her dream into consciousness as he was asking, "What is it, what's wrong?" in a panicked voice. "No, it's okay, I just…" she breathed out, looking down at her abdomen. But the dream came back to her in that second and she couldn't stop the tears that suddenly began to fall down her face.

Gathering her in his arms, Castle realized what had happened, and said reassuringly, "It was just a nightmare. Are you in pain though?"

"No," Beckett said, shaking her head as she managed to stop crying, trying to calm herself down. "Sorry."

"It's understandable," Castle said. "I was having a nightmare just now myself."

Nodding slowly, Beckett said, "There was blood… too much of it, I knew it was the baby, and I couldn't find Julia," shuddering in revulsion at that.

"Just a dream," Castle murmured, kissing the side of her head. He reached down then and touched her abdomen, rubbing it a little. "You're okay now."

Hearing the strain in his voice, Beckett asked, "What did you see?"

Looking at her, Castle wasn't going to say, but he knew he needed to, so he finally told her about his nightmare ending with, "I woke up just in time, I wish you'd been able to love."

"I'll be okay," Beckett replied. She sighed and said, "That wasn't my only nightmare tonight." When her fiancé looked at her she told him, "I dreamt I was in my mother's place in the crime scene photos…"

"That won't happen," Castle assured her, hugging her a little more tightly. He pressed his cheek to hers and murmured, "Do you want to see her?" knowing she was thinking about Julia.

"No, let them sleep," Beckett said with another sigh as she leaned against him. "We should sleep."

Looking down at her, Castle saw that her eyes were closed, and he rubbed her arm saying, "We should." He couldn't help leaning down, brushing his lips against hers before he pulled away. He was a little surprised when she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he kissed her a second time, a little deeper than before.

Though she was exhausted, Beckett responded to her fiancé's kiss before they slowly parted, and she let him help her lay down before she pressed back against him as he held her. She felt like she was just barely falling asleep when she heard the alarm on Castle's nightstand sound off, and her eyes flew open.

"Hey, morning love," Castle said as he walked into the room with a mug in his hand. "Someone wants to see you."

Running into the room, Julia clambered up onto the bed and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck tightly saying, "Morning Mommy, are you kay?"

"I'm fine," Beckett said, looking over their daughter's shoulder at Castle. When he shook his head she realized that Julia wasn't asking because she knew about their nightmares the previous night, but because she wanted to know. "And what you about sweetie, how did you sleep?" she asked, pulling back so she could kiss the little girl's forehead.

"Kay," Julia said softly. When Castle sat down next to her and Beckett, and she saw their slightly concerned looks, she squirmed a little and said, "I thought I had a nightmare but I don't remember."

"Alexis," Castle called towards the open door.

"Hey, you okay Beckett?" Alexis asked as she came into the room.

"I'm fine, how was Julia last night, did she have a nightmare?" Beckett asked.

"No, but she was tossing and turning a little here and there," Alexis replied. "I asked her and she's not kidding, she doesn't remember anything if she did have one."

"Okay, so, are you tired?" Castle asked, running his hand over Julia's hair as Beckett was drinking her tea.

"No," Julia said firmly. "But Mommy, I wanna go with you to work."

Sighing, Beckett said, "I wish you could, but you can't go with us. You do have camp today you know."

"I think she's worried about you two going out," Alexis commented, sitting on the end of the bed, watching them. "She was talking about that while I was getting her dressed."

"Thank you for that," Beckett told her quickly before turning to Julia. "You-"

"You got hurt Mommy and you had to go to the hospital!" the little girl cried in protest. "I don't want you and Castle to get hurt," she said a little more quietly, slumping down against her mother.

"You don't need to worry," Beckett said, hugging her daughter to her. "We're not really going to work like we normally do; especially me."

"No?" Julia asked, looking up at her.

"She's right, we're just there to help your uncles a little bit, once we're done, we'll head home, well, if it's time we'll pick you up" Castle confirmed. "Then we'll get Kauai and some things from the apartment and come home."

"I hope so," Julia said, snuggling against her mother.

"Okay, since it's time for us to get ready," Beckett said, glancing at the doorway; where Martha was. "And your daddy and I are the only ones who aren't dressed, why don't you help Alexis pick something out for breakfast?"

"I'll make it," Castle said, standing up before he picked Julia up. "What do you feel like?"

"Mommy can pick," Julia said quickly.

"Some oatmeal would be fine," Beckett replied as she watched with a smile as Castle pretended to throw their daughter to Alexis. She waited for their family to leave, Alexis closing the door behind them, before she went to her fiancé and hugged him tightly.

"Okay?" Castle asked, kissing her temple gently.

"Yeah, just tired still," Beckett replied. "Should we be worried about her?"

"I don't think so," Castle said. "This is normal."

"I'm just a little concerned," Beckett said, pulling away from him. "That she has some inclination of what went on, with my bruises and the way we were yesterday. But I know," she said before he could speak. "She can't know details, her perception we've talked about though…"

"You make a good point," Castle said. "What I'm hoping is that maybe going back to normal ourselves, we'll get her back to normal too."

Beckett thought about that for a moment, and then nodded in agreement saying, "I need to get dressed," leaving her fiancé to stare after her.

Castle was a little confused as to why she was such in a hurry suddenly, but he didn't have the sense that she was concerned still. So he went to grab some clothes, checking the time before he dressed.

Beckett went from the bedroom to his office as Castle was in the bathroom and she sat down at his laptop, beginning to type. She was so engrossed in her task, that when her fiancé set down a mug of tea for her, she barely noticed.

Castle was able to look over her shoulder at the screen, and saw that she was typing out a letter of resignation. "Print mine out," he murmured to her.

Without saying a word, Beckett set both her letter, and Castle's letter of resignation he'd typed out two days before; after she'd told him she was pregnant; to print. She watched him as he grabbed the papers, and set them both side by side on the desk in front of her after she'd set aside the laptop.

Feeling her gaze on him as he signed his letter, Castle glanced at her once he'd finished, and set the pen down carefully. "I'm leaving this to you," he said.

"It's up to me if I give it to Gates," Beckett replied, picking the pen up immediately and signing her letter. As she leaned back and folded the paper she said, "For now, let's just enjoy our time with the family."

Castle smiled at that and took her letter as they left the office, saying as he smelled the oatmeal cooking, "Did we take that long?"

"No, I'm hungry," Julia said, watching them carefully. When her mother came over to her and hugged her where she was sitting on the counter next to the sink, she smiled widely and said, "Are you?"

"Quite a bit," Beckett said, running her fingers through her daughter's hair. "So, what are you doing today at camp, I forgot."

"We're gonna go to the library," Julia said. "I have to take my card."

"You're going to get more books?" Martha said as her son took the orange and knife she was holding in her hands; having been making orange juice. "You didn't even finish what you got the other day."

"I know, but I'm gonna get one book only," Julia said. When she saw the way the others were looking at her she pouted playfully saying, "I promise!"

"We're kidding," Castle said as the little girl laughed as her mother tickled her. "What else will you do?"

"We're gonna go see the train station," Julia said. "And then come back to school and play."

"Sounds pretty good," Castle said, finishing the last of the juice. "Are you going to take your camera?"

"I asked and they said yes I can, if I wear it around my neck," Julia said, glancing at her mother's neck though it was covered by her shirt.

"Good idea, but be very careful with it okay?" Beckett asked, helping her down before they began to set the table.

"I will, I wanna take pictures of the pretty shelves and the stars at the trains and…" Julia chattered joyfully as she set spoons down at each place setting her mother set down.

Castle was relieved at how the little girl seemed a lot happier, and he set down the pitcher of juice on the table, watching her telling Martha about the ceiling of the station, where there were constellations depicted. He couldn't help himself, leaning down and kissing the little girl's cheek to her giggle.

"Ooh! I looked at my calendar, and know how many more days there are?" Julia told her mother and Castle.

"Sit down first," Beckett said quickly. "We'll be late if we don't start eating."

Waiting a little impatiently for everyone to gather around the table, Julia then said, "It's only this many days…" before trailing off as she tried to show them the number eighteen with her fingers but almost forgot to add three more at the end.

"How many is that?" Alexis asked with a smile.

"Eighteen. And this many," Julia said, putting up twenty easily. "For the wedding, that's twenty."

"Are we going to be continuing the plans for that?" Martha asked.

"We will, we just want to see how today goes," Castle said, looking at his fiancée when she nodded in response to his unasked question. "So Alexis, you've got your sitar lesson-"

"I'm going with you," the young woman told them quickly. "To drop her off."

"Okay, so Mother, your plans?" Castle asked.

"Nothing really," Martha replied. "So I think I can join you if you don't mind."

"What about Grandpapa," Julia said, bouncing a little in her chair at hearing that.

"He needs to head in to work sweetie," Beckett replied, looking at her watch. "But we'll invite him for dinner again?"

"That'll be great, we should go somewhere though, or order in," Castle said.

"We'll see tonight," Beckett said. "I'll give him a call later."

"Okay, to return us to the wedding," Martha said. "How does your list look?"

"Not too bad," Castle commented. "It helps we made this really simple, but we should look into the catering tomorrow love."

Julia then said, "When do we give you presents?"

"Do you have something sweetie?" Beckett asked her daughter, smiling at her.

"Yeah," Julia said. "But I don't say what it is, Grandpapa and Martha told me."

"She brings up a good point," Alexis commented.

"Do you have something?" Castle asked in surprise.

"I'm just saying," his daughter said with a shrug.

"I think you guys can give us the gifts early, since we're not giving the guests much time to… the invitations," Beckett said, looking at her fiancé.

"I know, let's get going," Castle told her, as by then they had all finished eating. "We can make a quick stop at the post office."

"Why there?" Martha asked.

"We're going to rush the invitations to May and Skye," Beckett explained as they began to clear the table. "Since they're our guests who'll be coming the furthest out of state."

"Plus getting to the post office means they'll get out sooner," Castle said, rinsing the bowls. He felt Julia tug at his shirt and looked at her saying, "What is it?"

"Can I help mail them?" Julia asked.

"Of course," Castle said. "In fact," he told his fiancée who set some glasses next to him. "I think you can carry them for us."

"She can," Beckett replied with a smile as Julia jumped up and down a few times. "So let's go get your things so we can head out."

"See? She's fine now Dad," Alexis said, going over to him and squeezing his shoulder.

"I know, let's hope this lasts though," Castle said, drying his hands.

Once Julia and Beckett were at the door, the others were there waiting for them so Beckett took her bag from her fiancé, and they headed out, talking about whether they should walk to the post office or take a cab. In the end, since they had the time they walked, with Julia holding the stack of invitations tightly to her.

"We'll wait here," Martha said, sitting on a bench inside the building.

Hurrying to keep up with her mother and Castle, Julia handed the envelopes to them proudly when Beckett held her hand out to her, and watched, standing on tip toe at the counter as the postal worker put stickers on two and then took them with her to the back. "So now they're going to go?" she asked as they left.

"They'll be getting to your aunts and uncles pretty quickly," Beckett replied. "And the ones going to California will be there in two days. I really hope they can come."

"I know, but remember, Skye's finished with her investigation," Castle said before he hailed a cab. After telling the driver the address of Julia's school, he brought up their guest list, teasing his fiancée about her having invited Maddie though neither of them really thought she would come.

"Still, it's polite to invite her," Beckett said. "She'll appreciate the gesture; I did when she sent me the invitation to hers and her husband's wedding."

"Are people going to come?" Julia asked, peering up at them worriedly.

"They will, we just have to see if they'll RSVP," Castle said. The cab was stopping, so he quickly said, "Cross your fingers most of them will or else we'll be dancing by ourselves." Once they were out of the cab he turned to the little girl and said, "Okay, so we'll see you later sweetheart, have a great time at the library and the station. I'll want to hear all about them."

"And see the pictures?" Julia asked.

"And see the pictures," Castle said with a laugh, hugging her tightly to him. He kissed her temple and then stepped back to let his mother and Alexis say goodbye to her.

"Your father's right," Martha was telling the little girl as they hugged. "We'll want to hear all about what you see, and see those pictures. But have fun, that's the most important thing."

"I will," Julia said with a giggle. "Thank you Martha. Do you want to see too?"

"And hear," Alexis said as the little girl was talking to her. She smiled when Julia did widely, and said, "But have a great day and have fun, like Gram said," as she hugged her sister. "I'll show you later tonight too what I learned with Padma, Jules."

"Oh good, I wanted you to," Julia said eagerly. She then hurried to her mother and hugged her tightly saying, "I love you Mommy, and the baby too," whispering as lightly as she could.

"It knows," Beckett said, since the little girl had said that to her abdomen earlier when they'd been getting her backpack. "And I love you too sweetie," she told her, leaning down to share a kiss her. "Okay, I'll be back," she told the others.

"Bye!" Julia said happily, waving to them before her mother took her hand and they walked to the entrance to the school.

"Goodbye darling," Martha called as Alexis and Castle waved goodbye next to her.

"Dad…"Alexis started to say when she suddenly heard the sound of squealing tires. "Look out!" she said, looking down the street to where a black car was swerving around the cars next to him, pulling her grandmother toward the entrance to the school.

With everyone watching, the sedan made a sudden rough turn to the left, and slammed into the gate surrounding the school, sixty feet from where the opening was, making kids scream in surprise as their parents and the counselors tried to move them away. The car was motionless against the gate, smoke curling out of its hood as everyone recovered from the abruptness of the accident.

Castle and Beckett were the first to react, and as soon as Alexis was hurrying over to her sister, they ran together to the car. Castle reached it first, and he skidded slightly on the sidewalk as he thought the driver was Tyson. But he looked at his fiancée and when she shook her head, he stepped closer as the man was obviously dead, his skin a livid blue. It was then his attention went to the passenger's seat, and he saw four flowers laying on it still despite the impact, petals all around them and also on the floor. It took him only a second to recognize what kind they were and he took Beckett by the arms telling her, "Don't look Kate, please."

But Beckett was able to get out of his grasp, and took another step to the car, stopping abruptly at the sight of the flowers. "It's not him," she finally said, taking her phone out of her pocket. "I need to get Ryan and Esposito here," she said simply, turning from the two fully grown marigolds, then a slightly open one and finally a mere marigold bud in the middle of all the petals from the same kind of flower. She wasn't sure what she said to Esposito, only keeping her gaze on her daughter, who was with Martha and Alexis and watching them.

"This is it," Castle said under his breath to her as he walked back to her after keeping the dean of the school back from the car.

"I know," Beckett said simply. "Please, ma'am, we need to keep the car clear," she then had to say to the dean who had tried to come up to them again.

"But the driver…" the woman began before she realized then why Beckett and Castle were doing that. "I'll have to cancel camp today," she said, and quickly turned to go to the kids and parents inside the fence.

"Can you watch for anyone coming up to the car?" Beckett asked him. When her fiancé nodded, she opened the passenger door, leaning over to turn off the ignition, trying to ignore the flowers. She let herself study the driver, and she could understand why Castle might have thought it was Tyson, his face was remarkably similar, but the man had a scar on his chin that he hadn't had when she'd seen him and his face was slightly rounder. She then pulled away, not wanting to do anything else since she was still suspended.

"Beckett," a voice called out then as the sound of sirens approached the school. "What the hell happened?" Esposito asked as she got out of the car, looking at the kids who were either being taken away by parents or led into the school.

"Is Julia okay?" Ryan asked as he and his partner jogged over to her and Castle.

"She's fine, no one was hurt," Beckett told them. "The driver is dead; he's going to look like 3XK but it's not him, he has a scar that Tyson doesn't," she told them as quickly as she could. "There are flowers in the passenger seat, and I need you two to search the car while Castle and I get our daughter out of here."

"Are you okay?" Ryan said.

"Fine," Beckett said quickly before she and Castle headed over to their family. She saw that Alexis was hanging up her phone and asked, "Your lesson?"

"Your dad," the young woman told her. "I let him know what happened, because I told Padma to come to his apartment for the lesson, and we'd all go swimming and go out to lunch after. Your dad said it was fine," she explained as Julia hugged her mother tightly.

"Mommy is the person in the car okay?" the little girl asked worriedly, becoming concerned when she saw her uncles.

"Sweetie, I need you to go with them to your grandpapa's okay?" Beckett said as she knelt in front of her. "And listen to them until we come home. Be careful swimming, and be good while Padma is teaching Alexis okay?"

"Kay," Julia said. "Are you still going to work?"

"Yes, but we'll be home as soon as we can," Beckett promised, easily able to hear the anxiety in her daughter's voice. She hugged her tightly and said, "I love you Julia, have fun going swimming okay?"

"Maybe," Martha said as the two shared a kiss. "We could still take Julia to those places today."

"What did the dean say about the camp," Castle said, picking Julia up.

"It was canceled for now," Alexis replied. "Maybe we could go to the library and Grand Central first before my lesson."

"Kay," Julia said, smiling a little. She hugged Castle tightly around the neck and whispered, "Make sure Mommy is kay."

"I will, but you have fun, like we were telling you before. Especially now you're going with your sister and gram," Castle told her. "I love you sweetheart, and we will see you later," he said before they shared a kiss. He handed her to his mother and watched with Beckett as they hailed a cab. "Alexis," he called before one stopped for them. "Ask Padma about the dedication."

When his daughter had nodded before getting inside a taxi, Beckett said, "You don't know if it's okay to call me that?"

"I may need to apologize for it, but I don't want to take it back," Castle said. "And they have no idea what the dedication says, I just asked if it's possible if I could use that in a future one."

Beckett nodded as they headed back to the car, seeing Ryan and Esposito were at the trunk which was open while CSU was just starting to look through the car as the ME had gotten the body out. "Can Perlmutter tell anything by way of cause of death?" she asked her partners.

"Nothing yet, but he's thinking it could be poison, not sure about the blue face though that could have been an allergic reaction," Esposito said, stepping in front of her before she could reach the trunk.

"Javi-" Beckett started to say in a little annoyance though she worried as to what they had found.

"Let her," Castle said, being able to see over the detective's shoulder. He stayed near Beckett as they went together to the trunk, watching her closely.

Seeing the envelopes that nearly completely covered the bottom of the trunk, Beckett saw her name on every one of them, and she nodded a few times before turning away. "Bring them to the Precinct," she said before she walked away, hailing a cab as Castle hurried to follow her.

* * *

Watching his fiancée leaning against the wall in the hallway they had gone to while they'd let Esposito and Ryan look at the letters, Castle finally felt the need to speak saying, "You're right, it wasn't Tyson, his fingerprints came back, he was identified."

"Who was he," Beckett said, not surprised when he hesitated.

"His name was Howard Ord, and he was… convicted for molesting a child fifteen years ago. He was a minor, so he got out about five years ago," Castle commented. "And judging by the looks of the man who got Rizzio out of his hospital room; it's Ord."

"Would he have run into Tyson anywhere?" Beckett said. When he nodded, she knew that meant he'd been at the same jail and she took a moment to figure out when. "So right before we thought 3XK was back," she murmured. She sighed and said, "We need to see those letters."

"Kate," Castle started to say. "The flowers-"

"I'm aware of what they mean, but we need to see what the letters say," Beckett replied as she walked past him. She went up to the conference room, and there saw her partners standing in the doorway talking. "Don't," she said abruptly before walking around them when they began to stop her. She put on a pair of gloves and picked up one of the envelopes that they'd opened. Gritting her teeth together as petals from a marigold floated down to the table as she did that, she turned her attention to the letter as she opened it. "It's in Latin," she said, recognizing a few words.

"That's why we stopped, we were debating on calling you in Castle," Ryan said as the writer was putting on a pair of gloves himself.

Taking the one from Beckett, Castle began to read saying, " _I've seen your little girl, and I find myself eager to meet her. I lost the chance to visit the house in Thailand_ ," pausing there as he realized since the name of the country hadn't been in Latin that was why the two had stopped. "Is that a recurring word?" he asked them. He looked at his fiancée when the two nodded and then continued to read. " _But I could have the chance to meet intimately with your daughter; your… child_ ," he managed to get out though he was nearly sick as he hesitated for a second. " _If you don't get out now. I can think of a million ways to take_ …" he continued before tossing the letter on the table as he'd managed to translate the rest.

"To what?" Beckett asked, feeling nauseated herself.

"To take you all at the same time and hear your screams of pain while I rape you," Castle said, reciting as if on autopilot. "You and your child."

The blood drained from Beckett's face as she went to another envelope, cutting it open and seeing it was in English that time. She read for only a moment, before seeing the line _and your child's throat will be slit; one swift stroke_ ; and she was nearly running out of the room to the restroom. She went straight to one of the sinks, dousing her face in cold water as she fought not to be sick before finally managing to get control of herself. Looking at herself in the mirror, she found she was breathing a little hard, and she touched her abdomen for a moment before she made her decision.

"Kate," Castle said quickly when he saw his fiancée coming out. "Love, we need to go, that letter I read, it said _filii_ , which means-"

"Children, I know," Beckett said. "The letter I was reading, it said child's, but the apostrophe was almost in the upper line of text, it was supposed to be plural."

"So they want us to leave by our own choice," Castle said, his jaw clenching as he grit his teeth together. "Make us appear as if we're scared."

"We're leaving right now; you have your letter with you?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah," Castle said before he was hurrying to follow her out to the bull pen.

Looking up at the knock on her office door, Gates said, "Mr. Castle."

"Sir, my letter of resignation," Castle said simply as he set it down on the table in front of her. He didn't bother to wait for her to reply, merely turned and left, passing his fiancée in the doorway. He went to the conference room where Ryan and Esposito were saying, "We need you two to come over with Lanie to my place as soon as you can get away."

Inside Gates' office, the captain was standing, telling Beckett, "Ryan and Esposito told me about the letters, and they showed me the one you just read," touching the letter inside an evidence bag in front of her

"So you know what it says about my child; the rest are likely going to be the same," Beckett replied. When Gates nodded, she didn't let her say anything, just took her letter, setting it down next to Castle's before she put her badge, handcuffs and then her guns on top of it. "I won't be changing my mind," she told her former captain, nodding to the letter.

"Beckett," Gates said in shock. "Just because Mr.-"

"It's not because of Castle. My child's life is in danger, my life is in danger, I've been given a way out, and for Julia's sake I'll take it before I regret it," Beckett said simply before she left the office, closing the door behind her. "They know?" she asked Castle when she went to her desk.

"Everyone does," Castle replied, looking at the others who were watching them closely as Beckett began to set her elephant statues into a box Ryan had brought over at his request. "They just left for the morgue, but they'll come over with Lanie the second they can."

Setting down her stick figure man and then her picture of Julia on top of everything last; Beckett was going to pick up to the box when her fiancée did so. She let him go to the elevators, looking over at Gates who was sitting at her desk with their letters before she glanced around the bull pen, smiling slightly at LT and Thomas who nodded to her. With that she left, following Castle inside of the elevator, not looking back before the doors slid closed in front of them.

* * *

Walking over to where his fiancée was sitting behind his desk, Castle set down the glass of water she'd asked for in front of her and commented, "You seem pretty relaxed."

Looking up at him, Beckett saw the slight concern on his face and said, "You know, on the ride back here, something Captain Montgomery once told me was going through my mind over and over. That we speak for the dead in Homicide, but he also said that we don't owe them our lives. I don't think they would hold our kids hostage for the sake of justice, when there's more than me and you to find it for them. I'm not exactly eager about being unemployed but… I wouldn't be able to live with myself if two innocent children died, especially since they're ours."

"I agree, I wouldn't either," Castle said with a nod. "But you won't regret this will you?"

"And what, hold it against them in the future?" Beckett asked. When he nodded she smiled saying, "I can't answer that exactly, but you know how important Julia became to me after I adopted her, and how much I changed doing that. I ended up welcoming that change," standing up. "And this baby…" she commented as she looked down at her abdomen with her fiancé. "You know already this is what I want."

"I do," Castle said, hugging her then.

"The one thing I am worried about," Beckett then told him as she pulled away from him slightly. "Is writing, I really don't think I'll be as good as you seem to be thinking."

"We'll be great together," Castle said simply. "Better than… anyone Patterson writes with in the future, or has written with."

"Don't be so cocky, love," Beckett said shaking her head.

"Oh, sorry," Castle said, moving away from her.

"Pervert," Beckett said, rolling her eyes. "But I'll give you one book, which we'll hopefully write during the pregnancy?"

"That way if it doesn't work out then you have time to think of what else you can do," Castle said simply, knowing why she'd asked that. There was a knock at the door then as she nodded and he said, "That's them."

"What do you want to bet I'll lose my hearing once I tell Lanie?" Beckett asked jokingly as she followed him out.

"No bets on that, I already know," Castle said simply before he opened the door. "Hey, come on in guys," he told the three.

"Is it true?" Lanie asked, making a beeline for her friend. "You resigned?"

"I did, but I have something else I need to talk to you about," Beckett said, reaching up and taking her friend's hands off her arms. She led Lanie into Castle's office and closed the door behind them, smiling at her fiancé.

"What's going on?" Esposito asked. "And I thought she'd be more upset because-"

Before he could finish, the three men heard Lanie's short scream in the office, and Esposito ran to the door, flinging it open, surprised to see the doctor hugging Beckett.

' _My ears_ ,' Beckett mouthed to her fiancé over the doctor's shoulder, not surprised when Castle turned away, trying not to start laughing.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked, seeing Lanie looked incredibly happy as she turned around to face them.

"I just told Lanie that Castle and I are going to have a baby," Beckett said simply. She wasn't surprised at the reactions of the two men; Ryan shaking Castle's hand and hitting his shoulder as he congratulated him and Esposito seeming to be shocked. "That letter," she said, her smile disappearing from her face. "That he translated, it said children, not child."

"So that explains the four flowers, Tyson threatened your kids," Ryan said.

"But I don't get the flowers, they mean something?" Esposito asked, recovering from the news.

"Marigolds mean pain and grief. Did you find anymore letters in English?" Beckett said simply.

"Yeah, they're all threatening, saying if you don't leave the city…" Esposito started to say.

"Why don't we sit down, we need to explain some things to you guys," Castle said. When he and Beckett were on the couch, he wrapped his arm around his fiancée as she told them in more detail about Tyson's threat to their kids. When she had finished he said, "The car crashing into Julia's school fence was the warning, probably his way of saying even the best security wouldn't protect her. Or the baby."

"So you're leaving the city?" Lanie said.

"We don't want to, but we need to," Beckett said, hoping they could understand that.

"And what are you going to do now?" Ryan asked Beckett.

"Castle and I are going to try and write a book together," she replied. "And I know," Beckett directed to Esposito who had a slightly doubtful look on his face. "I don't think it'd work either, but Castle seems to think we could do it."

"You'll be the first to get our book once it's written," he promised them. "But we'll be moving into the beach house before the wedding. And just to let you know, we don't want to lose contact with you guys."

"Do you want us to call you for help if we need it?" Esposito asked.

"No," Beckett said simply. "We can't take the risk," she said. "But you can come out to the Hamptons, and we'll see you whenever we're here."

"So you'll visit?" Ryan asked.

"As much as we can," Beckett replied. "I'm sure we'll get something from Tyson if we need to go back to the Hamptons. But what about the case, is Gates taking this to mean he's alive?" When Esposito and Ryan shared a look she said, "So that's a no, never mind the fact I saw him and he spoke to me."

"She's of the opinion you saw someone who looked like him; like Ord," Ryan replied. "Since it'd be a black eye on our already in trouble Precinct that we let a serial killer like 3XK get away. But she's taking the threat to you two seriously; she's having Karpowski and Bruce looking into it while we finish with the Rizzio case. Though…"

"There's not going to be much in the way of evidence," Beckett said. "I'm starting to wonder if my sketch of the other guy with Tyson would work, he was covered from neck to feet and seemed too bulky. Plus that beard could have easily been fake."

"We'll let you know if we find anything," Ryan assured them, Esposito nodding in agreement.

"So, when are you moving?" Lanie said, her voice sounding a little irritated. "Sorry, I just wish you didn't have to go like this."

"I know," Beckett said, nodding in understanding. "And we talked about it, and decided that first I need to get everything out of my old place, and then we'll ship it out to the beach house before getting started on what we want to take from here."

"Martha and Alexis?" Ryan asked.

"We'll ask them, but they'll be safe," Castle said. "There were only four marigolds?"

"Only four," Esposito said. "The car was completely searched."

"Then they're safe," Castle repeated. "So it's up to them if they want to stay here; I'm not going to sell the loft, so we have a place to stay when we visit the city," he explained, not finding it as weird as he thought it would to refer to the city as a place to visit and not as home. "We'll find out tonight when we tell them about this."

"Then can I ask about the pregnancy?" Lanie asked.

"Yes, and this might be where you two want to leave," Beckett said, directing that to her former partners.

"Yeah, that would be nice," Esposito said. "And we need to get back to the morgue; Perlmutter wasn't finished with the autopsy yet."

"Friday," Castle said as they stood to go with the two to the door. "Come over for dinner, bring Jenny."

"I will, can I tell her?" Ryan asked as he opened the door.

"I'm sure it would slip out if you di…dn't…" Beckett started to say before looking down at the floor. "Castle," she said, looking at her fiancé.

Coming over to her, Castle saw a small bundle of white flowers, and he was about to pick them up when Esposito stopped him. "Clovers?" he asked his fiancée as he went inside to get a bag for the detective to put them in.

"Yes," Beckett said slowly.

"What do they mean?" Lanie asked, putting her hand on her arm.

"Promise," Beckett said.

"So he's found out," Castle said. "And he's keeping his end of the deal."

"Could he have found out you're moving to the Hamptons?" Lanie asked.

"We went back to my place to get Kauai and also pack one box and one suitcase before we came home. We were talking about leaving in the lobby," Becket said, Castle nodding in agreement. "We just need to keep it," she told him.

"Alright, we'll take this to CSU, they don't have cameras in the halls do they?" Ryan asked.

"No," Castle replied. "I urged them to install them after Tyson got into my place but they never did. The lobby will have footage though," he said.

When the two had left after they'd said goodbye, Lanie asked Beckett, "So how far along?"

"It'll be a month somewhere around next Wednesday, and I'm due-" Beckett started to say when there was a pounding on the door.

"What… who's this?" Castle asked, seeing it was Ryan and Esposito, the latter holding a young man by the arm who was saying he hadn't done anything.

"Found him with these same flowers, laying them in front of lofts around the corner," Ryan said. "He says he answered an ad this morning to do this as a quick job for one hundred dollars."

"Look into it," Beckett said with a nod. "Did you see anyone?"

"No, I just went to a florist, and I asked who it was that ordered them, in case it was a prank or something, but the lady said it was an internet order," the man said in a panic. "The money will be at my apartment!"

"Okay, take him, call us if you find anything," Beckett said. She closed the door when they left again and looked at Castle. "We'll have to pack more tomorrow," she told him.

"We need to go to the Hamptons," he reminded her. "But we can pack before we leave."

"What I was going to say before we got interrupted, I'm due around the beginning of April," Beckett told Lanie.

"I need to go, but you're doing okay?" the doctor asked her.

"I'm fine, just some fatigue right now," Beckett said. "Oh, before you leave…" she started to say before she went to Castle's office. "You might want to see this."

"That's it?" Lanie asked, looking at the picture of the ultrasound.

"That's it; you haven't seen pictures of how they look that young?" Castle asked.

"Not really," Lanie replied. She hugged Beckett again after handing her back the picture saying, "I'm so happy for you both." She then turned to Castle and pointing her finger at him said, "You better take care of them."

"Believe me when I say I will," Castle reassured her. He hugged Lanie briefly before he and his fiancée said goodbye and they watched her leave. "You know it also means-"

"To remember our promise we're making with leaving the NYPD. He's reminding us about the Hamptons," Beckett finished for him. When he nodded she went to him and wrapped her arms around him murmuring, "I know, hard to forget. But let's hope that's it for flowers with a hidden meaning."

Castle nodded his agreement to that before he kissed her gently and then said, "Come on; let's get back to the wedding. Maybe we can run to your place one more time."

"No, we'll look at your things," Beckett commented as she held his hand while they went back to his office. "And we start making sure the house will be ready for us to live in."

Castle leaned down and kissed her temple gently before she turned to him, and he kissed Beckett deeply before they continued to his desk where the list of things to be done for the wedding and other papers were waiting for them.

* * *

"So I'm wondering about the other bedrooms," Beckett said as she watched her fiancé pack some of his photographs in a box in his bedroom. "You want to repaint and decorate them, but I think we can wait until after we get the baby's room ready."

"Good point," Castle said, pausing at that as he remembered they needed to do that. "What room should we give it?"

"Next door to Julia," they suddenly said at the same time as they shared a look.

"Luckily the walls are pretty solid, the baby shouldn't wake up its sister," Castle commented, taping the box. He studied it then and said, "I feel weird."

"I know, but we would be doing this anyways if we were staying," Beckett said. She looked at her watch and then commented, "They'll be here soon, how do we tell her?"

"I think we should say the truth as much as we can and that things will work out better if we have them grow up in a house instead of here in the city. Which isn't the truth but it kind of is, since that's going to be our refuge," Castle commented. "I just hope Alexis won't be angry we didn't tell her."

"And my dad?" Beckett asked. When he nodded she could hear the sound of a key in the door, and they went out together as their family came in. "Hey sweetie," she said with a smile at Julia. "How was it?"

"Sooo much fun," the little girl said eagerly as she wrapped her arms around her mother. She followed Beckett to the couch and told her about watching Alexis have her lesson and swimming with her sister and then grandfather when he'd returned. "And the library was fun but I just took pictures, I didn't get a book. And the station was sooo fun, I zoomed in and got close to the star pictures and took pictures of them."

"What's wrong Dad?" Alexis asked as he suddenly made her sit down.

"Something we need to tell all of you," Castle said, waiting until his mother and Beckett's dad were sitting to join his fiancée.

"You know what happened before," Beckett said simply, relieved when Julia didn't ask questions and all the others nodded. "Well, today I turned in my resignation letter, so I am no longer with the NYPD."

"You don't have a job?" Julia asked in surprise.

"No, but I had to sweetie, because it's not that safe now, and I can't let anything happen to your little brother or sister," Beckett replied. She could see the indecision on the little girl's face and told her, "It's okay if you're happy about that."

"I am, but what do you do now?" Julia admitted and then asked.

"There's something else," Castle said, clearing his throat as he looked at his mother, Alexis and Jim. "We're moving to the beach house; to live."

"Of course, better to be safe there," Martha said quickly before her granddaughter or Beckett's father could say anything. She looked at them and Alexis closed her mouth before she spoke, and Jim nodded once.

"We're going to live in the house?" Julia asked in surprise. "But…" she started to say after her mother and Castle nodded. "What about Celia and my school?

Beckett took their daughter on her lap and kissed her forehead as Castle took her hand. "I know moving means we have to leave everyone, but, we will come back, as often as we can. We just want you and your little brother or sister to be safe while you grow up," she told her.

Julia was quiet, and then said to her sister and Martha, "Do you stay here?"

"I have my studio and classes here darling," Castle's mother said first.

"And I have to go to college," Alexis said. "But you're family, and not that far, we'll come over as often as we can."

"They can take the train, and I should get you a car to use so you can come weekends or whenever you want to," Castle said quickly. "They do have rooms at the house remember."

"I'll join them when I can honey, don't worry," Jim assured his granddaughter when she looked at him.

"Can Celia come over?" Julia then asked softly.

"If she can, it depends on what her parents say," Castle commented. "But you know, going to school over there we'll put you in the same one that Mari's going to. It's a good one," he said, directing the last to his fiancée who looked at him.

"And we'll be neighbors?" Julia asked. She then smiled at their nods, and said, "I think I want to live there."

"We will," Beckett said, putting her on the floor. "For now, we should go up to Alexis' room, there's someone who wants to see you."

"Kauai!" Julia cried happily before she took her mother's hand and they went up the stairs.

"Dad-" Alexis started to say.

"Let me explain," Castle quickly interrupted her. He told his daughter and Jim about Tyson's threats when Rizzio had been holding her hostage, the flowers and finally their decisions to leave the NYPD that day and to move out of the city. "We don't want to leave you all," he said seriously after pausing to hear if Beckett and Julia were still upstairs. "We-"

"No, Dad, if he's serious about hurting Julia and the baby…" Alexis said, sitting on the couch next to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "And like we were telling Julia, we'll go see you."

"Especially when the new edition arrives," Martha said with a smile.

Smiling back, Castle turned to Jim and said, "You're welcome to come as often as you'd like."

"I'll probably take you up on that," Beckett's dad said. "But there's nothing you can do?"

"The guy delivering the clovers was right, the order that was put in was online, plus the ad was placed online, and tech wasn't able to track where the signal came from. The money was tucked into his mailbox, and there are no cameras on that area of the lobby," Castle said. "And the threats in those letters we can't take lightly; especially since there's nothing to tell us who wrote them. And they know about the baby because the boys discovered someone hacked into her hospital's records system about a year ago and were able to see updates to her records and about thirty other people. So Tyson knew when she was pregnant and he put everything into action to get us away from the city and the NYPD."

"But what will she do?" Jim asked.

"I can answer that," Beckett said, coming down with Julia. "Write with him."

"That's why you asked for stories she wrote for school," Beckett's dad said, looking at her fiancé.

"I think she could do it," Castle said simply, glancing at Alexis.

"What? Is it up to me to decide?" the young woman asked. "I think that's more up to you dad, and if you really want her to write, then yeah, she should be pretty good."

"Are you ready for that?" Jim asked his daughter.

"I have no idea; I'll see when we start to write," Beckett replied. "And we're going to write one book, to see if we can."

"You'll be a wonderful influence on him," Martha said as Castle went to his office suddenly. "Maybe you'll curb him of his all night, caffeine induced writing sessions."

"The baby would take care of my need for coffee the first month," Castle said as he came out with his copy of _Hamptons Heat_ , handing it to Alexis. "This is why I had you ask Padma," opening it for her to the dedication.

"She said it was okay," Alexis said before she read. "Oh Dad, that's so sweet. Did you read this?" she asked Beckett before going to her grandmother and handing her the book.

"Last night he showed me," Beckett replied with a smile at Martha's widened eyes as she too read. "And you could just fall asleep when the baby wakes you up," she said to Castle.

"Not going to happen," he told her, shaking his head. "So," he said a little nervously, watching Jim read the dedication.

"If I ever had a doubt about your feelings for my daughter I think you just reassured me of them Castle," Beckett's dad said simply.

Surprised when her fiancé looked a little embarrassed by that, Beckett put her hand on his arm and watched as Julia rushed to her grandfather, who soon read the dedication out loud for her when she asked.

"So is anyone hungry?" Castle asked as Julia rushed to him and hugged him around the neck tightly.

"Wait! That's the perfect thing to say to Mommy so she loves you more," Julia said. "And I wish the wedding was tomorrow!"

"It'll get here soon enough," Beckett said, smiling as Castle looked embarrassed again but also pleased. "Before that though, you've got the concert."

"We do," Julia said in eager remembrance. "Oh Grandpapa, guess what Mommy and Castle got for me?"

"Okay, we'll order dinner, is Thai okay?" Castle asked, standing up to go to the kitchen. When he only got a wave of a hand in his direction from his mother, he smiled and then went to get the phone. He watched his fiancé as she got a glass of juice while he was ordering, and once he'd hung up asked her, "Good?"

"Thirsty," Beckett explained. "He's right you know, now I know how you feel about me," she told him as she set down the glass and wrapped her arms around him. "And I feel the same way."

"I knew that already," Castle said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"How?" Beckett asked with a smile. She wasn't too surprised when he kissed her; only hoping their family wasn't watching. When they parted, she pressed her forehead against his when Julia grabbed their arms that were around each other before she took them to the couch so they could see her pictures she'd taken while they were waiting for dinner to arrive.

* * *

"How long do you think it will take you to pack everything?" Martha was asking her son, watching him pack some of the decorative items he had in his office into a box.

"Not long, because honestly, we're planning on redecorating the house remember," Castle told her. "And we're going to get most of the stuff to decorate it ourselves."

"Is the study ready for you both?" Martha asked.

"After some tweaks to it, it will be," Castle commented. "We… sweetheart," he said, seeing Julia peering around the doorway. "You're supposed to be asleep, and isn't your sister there with you?"

"She went to bed, isn't it late?" Julia asked.

Martha laughed at that and said, "It is late darling, which means you should be in bed."

"I wanted to ask if Mommy was kay… and I want some water please?" Julia asked.

"I'll take her," Martha said. "Are you going to bed?"

"I'm finished," Castle said. "I'll join you." And with that he picked up Julia who patted his shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"What can I take to the house?" Julia said.

"Your mom and I are going to bring everything with us, you decide what you want to put in your room," Castle told her.

"I get the feeling it's going to be everything from her room, since it'll fit in her new room," Beckett said, coming out from Castle's bedroom. She smiled when Julia leaned over in Castle's hold, holding her arms out towards her before she reached them. "You don't want me to hold you?" she asked in surprise, trying to take her but she wouldn't let go of Castle.

"Is it kay? I'm not heavy now 'cause of the baby?" Julia asked. She got her answer when Beckett took her and she sighed in happiness, snuggling against her as she yawned. "I'm happy Mommy, but are you?" she asked before she took a sip of the glass Castle gave her.

"Don't worry, I'm actually a little eager to see how writing with your daddy will go," Beckett said truthfully. "And eager to get to focus on the concert and the wedding of course. Remember, we're going to the beach house tomorrow, so get some sleep."

"I'll take her if you'll allow me to," Martha said, holding her arms out. "Unless you two want to tuck her in."

"Actually, you can Mother," Castle said, smiling at his mother's surprise when Beckett handed her Julia. "We'll be tucking her in for a long time, and we already did that earlier. Mind at all sweetheart?"

"No," Julia said with a smile. She hugged Martha around the neck and leaned over to share a kiss with first Castle and then her mother. "Night, love you Mommy," she said, smiling at Beckett and waving at Castle.

"We love you Julia, sweet dreams," Beckett said.

"See you in the morning," Castle said as they watched Martha carry their daughter upstairs. "Ready to sleep?"

"Not exactly yet," Beckett replied, taking his hand. She pulled him to his room and then paused; turning to him after he'd closed the second door behind them. "So do you want to keep calling this your room?"

"I think it's definitely our room now," Castle replied with a smile as he gathered her in his arms and kissed her gently. "This was a very weird day," he murmured after they were quiet for a moment.

"I know, it's bizarre to realize I'm a civilian now," Beckett said. "And don't ask again, I'm fine with this," she said quickly when he opened his mouth to speak. "It'll take me time to get used to it, but I'm hoping I'll be distracted; that should help me out."

"Okay, okay," Castle said in mock annoyance. "So when we come back Friday, are you going to keep Julia in camp?"

"No, we need to take her out," Beckett said. "I'm not risking another attack on her school like that."

"That's true," Castle said. "I think I need some more time to get used to being a parent with you, sorry."

"We're doing it more and more, and in twenty days it'll be official, so that should help you then," Beckett told him as he led her to the bed. She sat up as he did the same on his side, but wasn't surprised when he reached over and pressed his hand on her stomach. She smiled saying, "Plus the fact we're having this one should convince you we're parents together."

"Definitely," Castle said with a nod.

"What're you thinking?" Beckett asked, watching him as he just watched his hand as it ran back and forth on her abdomen.

"Remember how we were talking to them about giving us their wedding gifts?" Castle asked her. When she nodded he then said, "I'd like to give you yours before we leave for the honeymoon."

"The day before the wedding like your mother insisted on?" Beckett asked, remembering Martha seemed adamant about that.

"Actually, right after the wedding, after we sign the license and the adoption papers," Castle said. "I don't need to," he then said before she could reply. "And if you don't have my gift-"

"Gifts," Beckett corrected him. She smiled when her fiancé looked at her in surprise before she said, "You heard me Rick," caressing his cheek.

Shuddering as he felt a sudden rush of desire go through him, Castle said, "Wait, do you feel up to it?"

"I…" Beckett said, hesitating.

"Then we can wait," Castle said simply, kissing the inside of her wrist. "Maybe while we're at the beach house?" he asked, raising his eyebrows up and down a few times. "We'll be where we conceived this one."

"This one," Beckett sighed, smiling at him as he moved around to press his cheek to her stomach. She stroked his hair and said, "I have your gifts already, have had them for a while, so we can exchange them whenever you want."

"Do you mind then?" Castle asked, not moving from where he was.

"No, actually, it'll be nice to have a moment to ourselves," Beckett told him. "Since we'll start the reception after the papers are all signed."

Castle sighed a little then, and said, "Think she'll say it then?"

"Mmm-hmm," Beckett said a little absently. When her fiancé raised his head to look at her she smiled and said, "I don't know exactly when, but I'm sure after the wedding she will." She then frowned for a moment and said, "She might wait longer though."

"That's what I've been trying to prepare myself for," Castle said. "I just can't see her automatically calling me daddy and saying she loves me that quickly. But I don't mind," he said when he saw Beckett looked a little concerned. "She'll say it." He sat up then and looking at her said, "You don't feel like being a little more intimate," not realizing his voice sounded strained. "But can I-"

Before he could continue that, Beckett was grabbing him and she pulled him to her, kissing him deeply. She wrapped her arms around him as he plunged his tongue into her mouth hurriedly. A second later she let him lay her down, running her fingers through his hair before they had to breathe. Pulling apart, she touched his lower lip, biting her own as he immediately started to kiss at her fingers. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"For… oh, no apologies," Castle said, shaking his head before he held her hand steady and pressed kisses to her palm and wrist, feeling her shiver of pleasure against him. "Believe me; I know it's out of your control how you're feeling right now." He paused and then said, "I shouldn't have told you about how Meredith was."

Sighing, Beckett said, "That worries me, but what's more of a concern is what if I slowly stop wanting to be with you?"

Castle looked thoughtful for a moment before he leaned down and kissed her gently before pulling back enough to whisper against her lips, "I know how to get you excited love."

Smiling at his confidence, Beckett said, "Oh I know you do, but towards the end…"

"Oh, this is where your sharing the love of the Tudor era with your dad is a problem," Castle said. "Also us watching some of that show about them. I'm not a king so I believe in monogamy and I won't be looking for someone else for sex because you don't feel like having it with me," he told her firmly. "You've done some research on pregnancy already; did you ever come across anything that said your sexual appetite might be off the charts?"

"Off the charts," Beckett scoffed. She then bit her lip in anticipation that time saying, "Would you be able to keep up with me."

Since his fiancée looked more eager than hesitant, Castle swallowed hard and said, "I think so." Then he realized why she'd brought up the subject and said, "I think we're pretty good together Kate, and we seem to keep up with one another consistently. And if you need me to keep up, you know what to do."

Smiling at that, since she was half worried about her fatigue and also if he would be able to match her if she suddenly became more amorous than usual, Beckett kissed him slowly on the lips before she pulled him on top of her. Or tried to, as he was stopping himself from moving. "Rick-" she started to say.

"I'll hurt-" Castle said.

"You won't," Beckett said simply before he moved and she wrapped her arms around him tightly again before kissing him deeply. She sighed into his mouth as they became more and more passionate, their heads tilting back and forth furiously before they broke, panting heavily for air. "Hmm, I wish…" she began.

"Tomorrow is good," Castle said, having to get off of her before he went too far. He wrapped his arm around Beckett when she rolled over against his side, stroking her hair. They were quiet, and he'd thought she'd fallen asleep when he carefully had her lay on her back. When she moved in reaction he quickly apologized, "Thought you were sleeping."

"No, did you need me to be?" Beckett asked. She wasn't too surprised when he didn't respond to that, and instead raised her NYPD shirt before he pressed his lips against her stomach. "When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn't aware you'd be like that," she told him, watching him.

"Well, you've seen me with Alexis and Julia, and they're a lot older than our baby is," Castle pointed out to her, not surprised she'd thought that. "But you like that I'm like this right?" he said, going up to her as he lowered her shirt. "Makes you love me more."

"Thanks for adding on that last one," Beckett said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She caressed his cheek and then told him, "But you're right it does. Though with that being said, we're about even in that, because you love me more for carrying your child."

"Our child and you're right," Castle said, grinning at that. He leaned down and took her lips in a gentle kiss before pulling back and whispering, "I adore you my love."

Beckett kissed him then, and they kissed each other deeply, but didn't become too passionate before they parted very slowly. "I love you Rick," she murmured, caressing his cheek gently.

When he'd pulled back, Castle said, "Should get some sleep, we've got a lot to do."

"You're right," Beckett conceded. "Though when we go on our honeymoon; wherever it is; we'll stay up later than this." She laughed when Castle froze at that, and she said, "You heard me again, and I'm being serious."

"Man, when is that wedding," Castle said before he kissed her gently and then laid with her against his side, wrapping his arm around her. He pressed his cheek to her head, and closed his eyes, running his hand up and down her arm, the motion lulling him quickly to sleep.

Kissing his jaw, Beckett stayed awake a little longer, watching him for a moment, studying his face. She was touched at how he was supporting her leaving the NYPD, and was; like her; focusing more on their kids. She just hoped he was right when he said they would be great writing together, though she had to admit to more than a little interest in working in what had been his world she'd only barely scratched the surface of. She found herself also moved at how he was letting her fully into that so called world, and she touched her stomach as she realized how he wanted her so much a part of his life, since she would be in different facets of it. With that thought she kissed his lips, and then pressed close to him, turning her focus to the next three weeks as she slept to try and get enough energy for all that needed to be done for the wedding and to prepare their home for their family.


	16. Songs We Were Singing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song The Song We Were Singing by Paul McCartney, from his album Flaming Pie.

"Welcome back everyone," Martha commented as the four walked into the loft. "How was the drive?"

"Not bad, everyone seems to be going to Long Island, though we got some traffic getting close," Beckett said, hugging her dad who'd gotten there before them.

"How is unpacking going?" Jim asked her.

"Pretty well, though our room looks a little bare," Beckett replied. "But we ordered some things last night, and we're hoping to get them within a month."

"And after that we can focus on getting the baby's room ready," Castle said as Beckett hugged his mother quickly.

"Speaking of which, how are you?" Martha asked, holding her by the arms.

"Pretty well, still tired, but there have been a few days I've been too busy with everything to remember that," Beckett said, smiling since by then she was a little over six weeks.

"So the concert-" Castle started to say as Alexis and Julia were hugging Martha at the same time. He was cut off by the knock on the door, so he hurriedly went to it, seeing it was the concierge. Thanking the man he called to Julia, "Sweetheart, guess what I have?"

"It's here?" Julia cried out, squealing and running and jumping to him at the same time as she pumped her arms up.

"She does that interestingly," Jim commented to his daughter.

"I know, it's likely the dancer in her," Beckett said with a smile.

"It is!" Julia squealed, taking the button that Castle handed her from the small box. She ran to her mother and grandfather saying happily, "Look, look, this is what I said Castle bought me!"

Taking the pin that said _I Still Love the "Beatles"_ , Jim said, "Pretty appropriate. So you're wearing it tonight?"

"Yep," Julia said happily. "Oh, hold it for me Grandpapa, please?" And before he could reply, she was running to Castle as he was walking over to them, throwing her arms around him as tightly as she could. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Castle said with a laugh, ruffling her hair. "Let me put it on for you later?"

"Yeah," Julia said, watching as he pulled another pin out of the box, setting it on the island counter. "One, two, three, four, five," she counted when he'd finished taking all the same pins out of the box. "You bought for everyone!" she exclaimed. "Oh, please, wear them too?" she said to the others.

"I'll wear mine, since I'm not wearing a Beatles or Paul shirt," Beckett said with a smile.

"So will I," Martha said, nodding, Jim doing the same after her.

"Of course I will wear this," Alexis told her sister, taking one. "I'm wearing the Paul shirt we got last time we went to his concert too."

"Speaking of that," Beckett said. "We've got two hours until we need to leave, so sweetie, want to do something with your grandparents?"

"Yeah," Julia said. "Can we do painting?"

"How do crayons sound?" Martha asked, smiling at being grouped in with Julia's grandfather; her son and Beckett having been doing that since they'd begun the move to the Hamptons.

Nodding, Julia took Martha's hand and as they went to Castle's office said, "The tent is there now."

"I know, your parents told me," Martha replied. "Did they tell you?" she directed to Jim who was following them.

"They did," Beckett's dad replied.

Watching them go into the office, Beckett turned to her fiancé and said, "I'm wondering about your plans for dinner before this concert," as Alexis headed upstairs.

"Don't worry, I've got this all set," Castle told her, putting his arm around her. "You've been doing so much planning lately; I think you should take it easy tonight. Since you know, tomorrow we're really going to be down to the wire."

"I know, and it seems strange, for a long time there were months between us and the seventeenth. But now…" Beckett said, since she had a hard time believing in two days they'd be getting married.

"Put it out of your mind, just for the rest of the day," Castle begged her, taking her hands. "Enjoy some great music. Some of which we'll be listening to at the reception."

Smiling as she shook her head, Beckett said, "Now who's not putting it out of their mind?" But as she nodded to his questioning her if she wanted some tea, she got onto one of the chairs at the island as Julia, Martha and Jim came out to the table. She couldn't help remember the past three weeks, and how crazy everything had been getting the final plans for the wedding set and moving at the same time; especially for her since she was balancing that and her early pregnancy symptom of fatigue.

* * *

_Walking through the front door, Castle was a little surprised when he didn't hear Julia running to him, as she did that since they'd begun their move. "Hey," he said to his daughter and mother, seeing them sitting at the table in the dining room, papers spread out in front of them. "Where's Julia?"_

_"We sent her to the Fosters to play," Martha said. "Poor Kate was just exhausted; we thought she could use the quiet."_

_"She's asleep?" Castle asked._

_"She is," Alexis answered. "She was almost asleep here on the table, but we told her we'd take care of everything." She had to squeeze her dad's arm before he made a comment about Martha taking care of everything. "She's been asleep for a couple hours, she might want to get up about now," she told him. "Also that flower you have is going to wilt."_

_"I'll be upstairs," Castle said simply before turning to leave the room. He didn't mind that his daughter had seen the flower, since it was more a surprise for his future wife. He couldn't help smiling to himself as he thought of the fact he'd been saying that about Beckett for nearly two weeks then to himself. He headed up to their room, and opening the door he could see that they were right; she had been exhausted as she was still fast asleep._

_Sitting down on the edge of their bed next to her, Castle carefully brushed some of her hair off her face and watched her scrunch up her nose before opening her eyes. "Morning," he told her. "Well, technically two o'clock."_

_"Hmm, did you just get back?" Beckett asked him, a little sleepily._

_"I did, but everything's set, the deed is officially changed, and you and Julia are going to be well taken care of," Castle said, since he'd headed into the city to finally update his will to mention Beckett and Julia as his wife and daughter in it formally._

_"Did you call the boys?" Beckett asked, lying on her back as she'd been on her side._

_"Yeah, nothing," Castle said. "They managed to ID the handwriting of the Latin letter, but it's from an inmate who supposedly died. They looked into the ME who took the inmates from the prison, turns out the body was cremated, and the ashes were dumped in Atlantic per the guy's request and that's as much as they could get. Oh, and they found where the marigolds came from. From a hardware store chain; several stores; and they were taken from already potted plants, ripped off the flowers or picked off the stem. At different places and the security camera footage shows people walking by, no one stopping."_

_"Which would account for the jagged appearance of the petals," Beckett sighed. She saw Castle's expression and asked, "She's closing the case isn't she?"_

_"Yeah, with Wilkins' task force coming into the Precinct next month and nothing but dead ends…" Castle said._

_"We're safe though," Beckett replied. "We haven't heard a thing, and neither has our family back in the city. So… I think we need to leave it as it is unless there's a new lead that Ryan and Espo find. If we don't, it's going to consume our lives."_

_"You make a good point," Castle said in agreement. "So, how goes the planning?" he asked as he took something off the nightstand._

_"You probably already talked to them," Beckett said, jerking her chin in the direction of the door. "And yes, I'm still exhausted though I seemed to be fine yesterday."_

_"But other than that?" Castle asked._

_"Fine," Beckett said, sitting up then and rubbing her face a little. When she looked at her fiancé, she smiled as she saw the flower in his hands and took the purple tulip asking, "For any reason?"_

_"Not really, I just saw it in a flower box by our lawyer's office, made me think of you," Castle said simply. "And made me want to get back here really quickly."_

_Beckett reached out to him and cupped his face in her hand before pulling him to her for a gentle kiss. She would have loved to have made it deeper, when there was a knock at the door interrupting them. "Come on in Alexis," she said, knowing it was his daughter. "Julia?" she asked as she stepped in._

_"Playing with Mari, Mr. Foster is watching them since they're on the beach," Alexis said._

_"I'm going to guess they're getting shells for Julia's little brother or sister," Castle commented. "So why'd you come up?"_

_"I needed to show you what… I came up with," Alexis said. "To get your approval."_

_"Anything coming from your gram?" Castle asked as she handed him some papers and then went to get an ottoman._

_"Not really, there were ideas, but I was able to dissuade her," Alexis said, sitting next to him. "So first, I was thinking, what about adding the peacock feathers you're having on the tables to the bunches of flowers you want to put on the sides of the chairs on the aisle?"_

_"That's a good idea," Beckett said, nodding immediately. "And probably what I was too tired to see for myself. Did you order them?"_

_"I can do that once I'm done here," Alexis told them._

_"I'll do it, just give me the number," Castle said._

_"I got the menu organized," Alexis then continued. "Here's what it will look like, I hope I got everything you want and the extras are good. But you know, you can both change it, I just wanted to get something down for you."_

_"No, so far it looks good; it can't be easy to get a breakfast menu for a wedding reception," Beckett said, reading the paper. "I like your option of churros and chocolate for the dessert," she said with a smile. "And the apple amber. Funny we all kept with the mix of Spanish and Irish for the food. Okay, so, last thing is the chairs themselves."_

_"That's the last thing I got, and they'll be here next Saturday," Alexis said, handing her dad a note with the price for renting the chairs. "Gram and I checked the list, and we're ready."_

_"Everything?" Castle asked, taking the menu from his fiancée._

_"Everything, and I don't know how you've been able to keep up until now, because I'm beat," Alexis said, leaning against her dad's leg._

_"Thank you Alexis, for everything you and Martha have been doing for us," Beckett said seriously, getting on the edge of the bed._

_"Believe me, I didn't mind, it was actually kind of fun," Alexis said. "If I didn't know how crazy bigger weddings could get, I would say I could be a wedding planner."_

_"You do a great job," Castle said. "Think you can do me a favor," he told her as she stood. "Get your sister?"_

_"I will, let me take these… Thank you," Alexis said before she took the papers her dad was holding. "Call for the feathers Dad."_

_"I guess I should," Castle said, smiling at Beckett as she got up and went to one of the boxes in the room. He watched her unpack her blue vase and some pictures; taking them to the table he'd bought at a shop the next town to the north for them to put both their photographs. When he hung up he said, "How much more?"_

_"No clue," Beckett said with a sigh as she looked at the picture of herself with her mother. It had been on her nightstand, but she had framed it, and it was now next to a picture of Castle with Martha. She turned to him, looking around the room saying, "We're really doing this."_

_"Becoming suburbanites?" Castle asked. When she shot him a look he said, "What's bothering you?"_

_"No, just looking at the room and seeing so much that needs to be done," Beckett said, gesturing to empty spaces in some of the cabinets and on the shelves. "But I might be trying to rush myself and finish before the wedding."_

_"Then you know what you could use?" Castle asked, going to her and stopping her from reaching into the box again. The cry of their daughter made him smile and he said, "Some time on the beach. Let's take Julia, and walk down while we help her look for shells."_

_"Sounds great," Beckett said gratefully, needing the break from the wedding and unpacking though she'd just been asleep; all of it on her mind still. She squeezed Castle's hand as they headed out before they went down the stairs, hearing their daughter's voice as she eagerly talked to Martha who was by then in the kitchen getting louder and more excited as they neared them._

_"Hi Castle!" Julia said, running up to him. "Look at the shells I got," she told him, showing him two large ones._

_"Pretty nice," he told her, taking them. "Your mom and I are going to take a walk down the beach though; you want to come with us?"_

_"Yeah," Julia said, nodding before she went to her mother and hugged her tightly around the waist. "Are you not sleepy anymore?"_

_"Slightly," Beckett said with a smile as Julia had seen her nearly falling asleep at the table. "But let's go, I could really use the walk."_

_Outside after Castle and Beckett had discarded their shoes and socks, they joined their daughter who was with Alexis on the beach. As they started down the beach in the direction of the Fosters' home, Julia and her sister walked ahead of them._

_"So I think we have everything here," he commented as they watched the two looking at a cluster of shells._

_"I think so. Did you check your place?" Beckett asked._

_"Really quickly," Castle said. "And I'm sure I have everything. I'll take another look when we go for the concert."_

_"Unpacking is another story," Beckett then said absently. "Oh, before I forget, the decorator called, he wants one last session with us before the wedding."_

_"When?" Castle said, not surprised as they were literally working through the whole house together._

_"Monday," Beckett said. "He wants to talk about the kitchen, but honestly, how much can we do there?"_

_"The walls and that includes the breakfast nook you know," Castle told her. "But don't worry; we're not going to rush this. Tomorrow will make it one week until the wedding, and then we'll be on our honeymoon."_

_"Can I know where we'll go so I can relax?" Beckett teased him._

_"Not a chance," Castle said. He laughed when she did, and watched her as she slipped her arm through his, holding onto the top of it as they continued down the beach after their daughters who were filling the pail between them with shells, running through the breaking waves on the sand._

* * *

"I was right," Castle commented as his fiancée came into their room. "I've gotten everything out I want to."

"And our things are almost all unpacked back home," Beckett commented with a smile. "So we're nearly set."

"They're still coloring out there?" Castle asked, nodding to the living room.

"They are," Beckett said, smiling as he grabbed her wrist. "I hope you don't-" she started to say as he pulled her to him.

"No, just sit with me for a second," Castle replied, wrapping his arms around her once she was on his lap. "How are you?"

"Okay," Beckett told him, knowing he was referring to her resigning from the NYPD. "Oh, I almost forgot, what did your publisher say?"

"That he heard from my agent and he apologized after going crazy after reading the end of _Hamptons Heat_ , he's eager for us to write our book," Castle told her. "Though I think he's thinking you might just be in the background when we write."

"You're sure you don't want to start now?" Beckett asked.

"With everything going on right now?" Castle retorted though he knew she wasn't serious. "No, you're tired enough. For now, we'll get everything set at the house and once we're back from the honeymoon we'll get started. Actually, I don't want to even think about anything in the way of details until after we come home."

Smiling as she guessed that for some reason their honeymoon was going to be important to their book, Beckett didn't bother to ask since he was still very tight lipped on the subject. So instead she wrapped her arms more tightly around him, and once he was looking up at her, she kissed him slowly before they mutually deepened it at the same time, clutching at one another as they did.

Drifting down over Beckett's neck as they parted to breathe, Castle nuzzled his lips over her skin before they both heard the sound of their daughter running over to the room. "Finished?" he asked as he stood after his fiancée had.

"Yeah, I drew us at the concert," Julia said eagerly. "Can we go now?"

"It's almost time, we should start getting ready," Beckett said, looking at her watch. "Who do you want to help get you ready?"

"I'll ask Alexis," Julia said before she hugged her mother. She was going to run out of the room when she paused and looking at the two asked, "Is the music going to be too loud for the baby?"

"I don't think so," Castle said, glancing at his fiancée. "So, you owe me," he told Beckett once they were alone.

"Get ready," she replied, shaking her head as she went to the overnight bag that had their clothes for that night and the next day. She changed into a blouse she'd let Julia pick out for the concert; one she already owned, but one the little girl had told her was perfect for the show. "Okay, so according to Julia, this will make me stand out in the front row," she told her fiancé as she came out from the bathroom, showing him the light blue and black blouse.

"So Paul will notice us?" Castle asked, a slight smile on his face.

"Apparently," Beckett said, shrugging as he walked up to her. She put her hands on his chest and said, "So, dinner."

"We will be eating right now, let's go," Castle said, kissing her quickly. He wasn't surprised at the look she gave him as he took her hand, but he merely tucked her hand into his arm before they stepped out, nearly running into Julia. "You look great sweetheart," he told her.

"Thank you, put the button on, hurry," Julia urged them, holding them up.

"I think we're ready now," Beckett said after pinning a button to her left shoulder. "Are you?" looking at Martha and her dad since Alexis was wearing the Paul shirt from the year before.

"Very, let's get going because Julia looks like she's going to run around going crazy," Martha said as they all looked at the little girl who was hopping from foot to foot and looking like she was shaking.

"Alright, everyone out!" Castle said, making Julia jump up and down and go straight to the door. He took Beckett's hand and led her out, finding their daughter's excitement contagious as they walked down the hall after her.

* * *

"There's one thing we know for sure," Martha commented as they were watching Alexis and Julia next to their table where they were eating at Citi Field. "They'll be getting a lot of exercise tonight if she wants to dance to every song."

"I can't help it," Julia giggled as she and her sister were dancing to one of Paul's songs playing from Alexis' phone. "I need to dance, the music is so good!"

"Sounds like someone has a party started inside here," a voice said outside the room.

Beckett looked her fiancé before he merely smiled at her and she got Alexis' attention, the young woman turning off the music as the person speaking stepped into the doorway.

"Hey, that was a good song," Julia pouted before she smiled. It was then she noticed everyone was quiet, and turning she saw the reason why, her mouth dropping open and her eyes wide as Paul McCartney came into the room.

"Looked like you were having a lot of fun," the singer said. "And you're Julia I'm going to guess."

"That's… me," Julia said, still in shock. She looked at everyone at the table and shook his hand when he'd walked up to her saying, "I'm excited to see you sing again."

"Again? You've been to my shows before?" Paul asked her.

"One," Julia said, holding up her index finger. "And it was here too."

"How old are you Julia?" Paul said, smiling.

"I'm five, I was four though before. This is Alexis, and that's my mommy, that's Castle, my grandpapa and Martha," Julia said, pointing to everyone at the table who was standing.

Shaking the singer's hand, Beckett felt as if she wasn't really experiencing the moment as the man asked her if Julia had always enjoyed music. But she was able to answer him, saying, "Oh, always, she especially loves your music and your new album."

"Glad to hear that, I always am pretty amazed at the families that come to see the shows, and how they all like my music. Great to see you're all fans with your buttons you've got on, I'm guessing you want to listen to a bit of music tonight," Paul said with a laugh.

"Castle got those for us," Julia told him quickly. "And they came today, before we left."

"Good timing," Paul said smiling at her.

"Can I take a picture with you, please?" Julia then whispered.

"Of course," Paul said. He waited for Beckett to get her phone, and made a peace sign with his fingers before Julia did the same. "I better head back, the band and I need to warm up a bit before we head out onstage," he said to them.

"One thing," Castle said. "Sign this for her?" he asked, handing the singer a piece of paper and pen he'd brought.

"That I know how to do," Paul said, smiling down at Julia who was biting her lower lip in anticipation. He quickly wrote _To Julia at Citi Field, August '14_ , and then signed his name.

"Thank you so much!" Julia breathed as she took the note. "I can't wait to hear you sing Paul!"

"I'll be seeing you in the front row," Paul told her. "All of you, and hope you'll enjoy the show."

"Thank you Paul," Alexis said, the others echoing her before she suddenly felt her sister jumping against her once he'd left her.

Squealing Julia jumped in a circle before she ran to Castle and threw her arms around him before he picked her up. "Thank you! Thank you!" she cried, kissing his cheek over and over.

"You're welcome," Castle said with a slight laugh, smiling at her reaction. "So I guess I surprised you?"

"Yeah, lots, I got to meet Paul!" Julia said, suddenly freezing and looking at her mother.

"I know," Beckett said, squeezing her fiancé's arm. "We all got to."

"And he talked to me, and shook my hand!" Julia cried, shaking her hands that were in fists. "And we get to see him!"

"Good thing you did that after we ate," Jim said in amusement as Julia was hugging Castle again and kissing him. "She never would have touched her food."

"I know," Beckett said, laughter in her voice. "Well, are you ready to go out to our seats now sweetie?"

"Yes please," Julia said. "Are you happy you got to meet Paul?" she asked Alexis before Castle transferred her to her sister's arms.

"Of course," the young woman assured her. "That was pretty amazing, and if; when you go back to school; they ask what you did during the summer, you can tell everyone that."

"I will," Julia breathed, smiling widely. "Ooh, I'm so happy," she said, clapping her hands. " _Good day sunshine_!" she suddenly started to sing as she was walking next to her sister, skipping with her, as that was the song they'd been listening to before Paul had come into the room.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that much of a reaction," Castle said, with Beckett behind them. "Why I don't know."

"Yeah, that should have been the first thing you thought of in terms of Julia's reaction," Beckett commented, smiling at him. "But that was very sweet of you. How long did it take you to set it up?"

"A while," Castle commented. "Nearly two full days I had to make so many phone calls, but that was more than worth it."

Beckett kissed his cheek before they were giving their tickets to an employee who directed them to the door to the section in front of the stage. Sitting down in their seats, she leaned against her fiancé and watched as Julia was talking to her grandfather and Martha, pointing at the stage. She wasn't tired, but took the chance for a last rest as it neared eight.

When the screens on either side of the stage changed, Julia was picked up by Castle, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, breathless in anticipation as the lights went out in front of them. "Is it time?" she whispered to him.

"Definitely," Castle was able to say an instant before the opening chords of _Eight Days a Week_ played.

Bouncing in his arms, Julia screamed and waved her hands as the singer and his band stepped out. She began to sing, clapping with the chorus before the song went into the next, _Save Us_ from his new album. She wriggled in Castle's arms until he set her down and went to Alexis, jumping up and down as they held hands and watched Paul singing.

Beckett felt Castle's arm wrap around her waist as the next song started, laughing a little when he sang to _All My Loving_. She leaned against him and sang as well before they kissed very quickly. Through the next two songs, she and her fiancé stayed close together before the opening chords and lyrics to _Paperback Writer_ began.

"Any reason you want to be with me?" Castle asked Julia, talking close to her ear so she could hear him as he picked her up.

"It's your song!" Julia cried before she started to sing. She smiled widely at him as he soon began to do the same, and she looked at her mother as she could see Beckett was singing too.

Jim, watching them take a selfie on Castle's phone towards the end of that song, waited until they were finished before he held his arms out to his granddaughter. He smiled at her pout before she heard the music to _My Valentine_ , and she grinned as she leaned over to him. As he settled her against his hip they looked at her mother and Castle and he said, "This one is going to be at the wedding right?"

"Yeah," Julia replied, watching them a little longer before looking to Paul again.

Swaying back and forth together, their arms wrapped around each other, Castle said to his fiancée, "I wish I could write something as romantic as he does, not a song or book though."

Smiling at that, Beckett said into his ear, "Maybe with our vows you'll manage." She laughed softly when he pulled away to look at her and she kissed him on the lips gently before they danced the best they could in the space they had to move.

Julia was singing to _Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Nine_ when Castle suddenly took her, swinging her onto his shoulders. She screamed and waved her hands to Paul, bouncing as he seemed to see her. "Did you see?" she cried down to her mother.

"I took a picture," Beckett replied as the ending of the song began, Julia rocking back and forth on Castle's shoulders. She laughed as he had to quickly grab the little girl's legs to make sure she didn't fall off, and she took her daughter for him as the next song was a slow one, _The Long and Winding Road_. She began to sing with her daughter, rocking her back and forth as they did so. She kissed her temple before they applauded at the end, smiling at her fiancé as he whistled loudly.

After being put down by her mother, Julia rushed to Martha just before Paul sang again and when she'd picked her up asked, "Do you like the songs?"

"Like I did before darling," Martha replied with a smile, watching her son and his fiancée holding on to one another as he was singing along with _Maybe I'm Amazed_. She shared a smile with Jim, unable to believe that the two were going to be married in less than two days by then. They had all been waiting for so long that hours felt more like days. But it would soon be time, and she hugged Julia as she remembered the little girl was going to fully become her granddaughter with the ceremony.

As Paul went to the front of the stage from the piano he'd been playing on, Beckett whistled as the beginning chords of _I've Just Seen a Face_ began and she looked with Castle over at Julia who was waving her hands in the air; still in Martha's arms; singing as fast as the singer was. She turned to her fiancé and since her arm was still around him, hugged him tightly as she could hear he too was singing. She couldn't help but join in before the song went to another new one, _On My Way to Work_ , and she and Castle passed Julia from Martha to Alexis as the two loved to sing that song together.

"I knew he would sing it!" Julia cried to her sister.

"I know," Alexis laughed before they began to sing. At the lyrics _I could see everything, how it came to be_ , she waved her free hand back and forth with Julia. The last two lines, _on my way to work_ , were nearly screamed by them before she jumped up and down, cheering with the little girl before they applauded with each other with one hand.

Julia could feel her cheeks were flushed as the next song was a Beatles song, then one of Paul's with Wings and then it went to another Beatles song. Her voice was a little dry from singing and cheering, so she relaxed a little against Alexis, mouthing the words. She looked down at the others, seeing Castle and her mother had their foreheads pressed together while Paul sang _And I Love Her_. She smiled as she could see Castle too was mouthing the words, but knew it was because he was singing them to her mother. The wedding flew across her mind then, and she squirmed in joy at the thought before Paul was singing _Blackbird_.

Cheering after that song, Beckett heard the next one, and she and Castle quickly brought Julia to them. It was _Here Today_ , and somehow Julia had known the song was for John and since she knew the singer had been killed, it never failed to make the little girl cry when she heard it. That time was no exception, and she and Castle were quick to comfort her, rocking her between them as she held onto them, watching Paul intently.

"Is she okay?" Jim asked, watching them since he knew how Julia was listening to that song.

"She will be now," Alexis called out as _New_ started up. "Ready?" she asked her little sister, holding up what they'd brought in with them. Once Julia was on Castle's shoulders, she gave her the little sign she'd helped her make that read _We love you Paul, now and New_.

Since they were in the front, Julia held the sign up quickly, but she knew the singer had seen it as he smiled and pointed to her before strumming his guitar again. She squealed and waved her hands back and forth again. When that song finished she turned to Alexis and waved at her saying, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Alexis said with a smile before she watched her sister rocking back and forth again to the beat of _Queenie Eye_. She sang with the chorus, which they all did, laughing as Julia pointed up to the sky at the lyric _O-U-T spells out, that's out without a shadow of a doubt_. She leaned against her dad and squeezed his arm as she could see her grandmother and Beckett's dad watching the little girl.

When _Lady Madonna_ began after that, Julia clambered down from Castle's shoulders as quickly as she could, going to her mother. That song she knew had been a favorite of her grandmother's, and she and Beckett would sing it together as Beckett had done that with her mother. She hugged her mother very tightly and said, "Grandmama can see we're having fun."  
"I know," Beckett said with a smile before they heard the strumming guitar filling the field. She laughed as her dad took Julia as the little girl became boisterous, singing to _All Together Now_ which they all knew well from watching _Yellow Submarine_ with her.

At _Lovely Rita_ , Julia went to Martha next and stood as she swung her hand as it held hers back and forth, singing with her. She jumped up and down numerous times as they all cheered at the end, running past her grandfather and mother to go to Castle as the song _Everybody Out There_ was announced, going in his arms for the next three songs, singing with him to _Eleanor Rigby_ and _Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!_ Since those were his favorite songs she knew, she patted his lips so he would sing, and smiled widely at him when he started to do so too.

Taking her sister as Paul began to sing _Something_ on the ukulele after talking about playing it for George, Alexis watched their parents with her, unable to help swaying with Julia in time to the music. She was surprised when the little girl was quiet, watching her watching Castle and Beckett dancing. The way the smile lit up Julia's face as Castle spun her mother, Alexis was happy to see it, since she knew it meant she was very close to fully accepting him; if she wasn't doing so already.

Having been looking over at them during the song as well, Jim turned back to Paul to applaud as Castle kissed Beckett, smiling to himself as he was happy seeing the joy on his daughter's face. He watched as Julia and Alexis then jumped up and down to _Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da_ together singing and dancing a little crazily, laughing when the little girl went to Castle, taking his hands before Beckett took one of hers. He wasn't surprised when Julia went to him during the instrumental break in _Band on the Run_ next, and picked her up in time for the next part of the song, singing with her as she pressed her cheek against his.

With _Back in the USSR_ , Beckett was reunited with her daughter, kissing Julia when she pointed during the US lyric in the chorus as Paul was doing the same on stage. She kept holding her, through _Let it Be_ as she rocked her, feeling Castle's arm around her. She couldn't help think of her mother with that song, since she'd always thought of how Paul had lost his own mother hearing it. He'd been younger than she, but not by much, and she was able to feel the sentiment of the song incredibly well though the circumstances were of course different. She was a little startled when it ended, and tears slid down her cheeks, making her fiancé and their daughter kiss her in response. She handed him Julia to wipe away the tears, wondering if it was the memory of her mother or the pregnancy that made her cry too easily. But as she hugged her dad quickly; knowing he'd been thinking the same during the song; she was aware already deep down it was a mix of both.

"Mommy!" Julia said, sounding desperate as she wanted to make her mother happy again. "It's Castle's other song!" She smiled back at Beckett in relief when she did so, and she joined both her and Castle in singing _Live and Let Die_ , crying out at the explosions before the chorus. With _Hey Jude_ starting right after that, she was put up on his shoulders, and screamed just before the ending began, the entire stadium singing at Paul's direction.

With a brief break then, Castle took Julia down and asked, "So, having fun?"

"So much, but my throat hurts," the little girl told him.

"We'll let you have a little tea before we put you to bed," Beckett said before Julia went to Alexis. "I don't remember having as much fun last year," she told her fiancé.

"I know, I'm enjoying this a lot," Castle said. "Maybe because Julia wouldn't really stay with me that long."

"Maybe," Beckett was able to say before the first encore started. She was surprised when the song _Day Tripper_ began, and leaned over to see Julia and Alexis pretending to play guitars at the distinctive riff. She shared a smile with Castle as he was watching, but then had to turn to her dad as he touched her arm.

"Does she know-" he started to say.

"No, and she won't for a while," Beckett replied with a slight laugh before they watched the little girl jumping up and down. When _Hi, Hi, Hi_ started, she laughed fully as Castle wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him, dancing with her against his side as he sang. To tease him, she sang the lyrics; almost laughing again when she stared at him intently singing the lyrics _won't say bye-bye bye-bye bye-bye bye-bye 'til the night is gone_. When he stopped and his eyes widened, she couldn't help wrap her arms around him and kiss him deeply before they listened to the end of the song, the music speeding up slightly until Paul and his band finished playing.

After _Get Back_ , which Julia sang with her grandfather and Martha, her arms around them both, she yawned widely and said, "It's not over is it?" since the stage was empty.

"I don't think so sweetie," Beckett told her as Paul came out by himself with an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. He began to play _Yesterday_ , and she wasn't surprised when they all sang to it, since that was one they'd all already enjoyed before Julia had come into their lives. She wrapped her arm around Castle, leaning against him again, marveling at nearly a year's difference for their family, especially since back in October, they hadn't been a single unit yet. She looked with her fiancé at their daughter as _Helter Skelter_ started, and glancing at him briefly knew he wasn't surprised either when the little girl got down on the ground, trying to dance the Paso Doble Derek Hough had done in San Francisco to the same song.

Eventually Julia just jumped up and down, rocking her head back and forth as she tried to mimic Alexis who was nodding her head back and forth rapidly. She didn't mind that she couldn't do it, only happy when her sister picked her up at the very end, spinning her around to her cry of joy. After _Golden Slumbers_ and _Carry That Weight_ though, she was disappointed when the final song began, _The End_. She was in her mother's arms then, screaming and clapping as hard as she could as confetti started to shoot from cannons and rained on them while Paul and the others took their last bows. She kept crying out his name, waving until he had left the stage, never having had so much fun with her family as that night so far in her life.

* * *

"So will you be able to bring it with you?" Beckett was asking her dad, standing near the door to his building.

"Of course, but are you sure you can get it into your room without him seeing?" Jim asked, nodding to Castle who was leaning against the taxi they'd taken from Citi Field.

"I can, just make sure it's zipped all the way still," Beckett said. She hugged him tightly then and said, "Thank you for coming."

"Thank you, after seeing George, I did want to see Paul live once and getting to see him twice as well as meet him and shake his hand…" Jim told her with a smile. "Get some rest Katie; you've got a busy couple of days tomorrow."

"You'll come by for Martha in the car?" Beckett asked.

"At ten sharp," Jim replied. "So we should get there at eleven thirty."

"Great, we'll see you tomorrow, night Dad," Beckett said, squeezing his arm before going to her fiancé. "Ready," she told him with a smile as she went into the van. She leaned against him as he sat with her, and she looked back at Julia who was with Martha and Alexis, not surprised the little girl was still awake and remained so as they reached Castle's building; going up to the loft.

Castle quickly made some tea for them all; Julia's as weak as he could get it before he was sitting with them all in the living room. "Pretty nice," he said as Julia was looking at her note from Paul.

"That was great!" the little girl exclaimed happily. "Can I frame this?"

"You can, want it on your desk?" Beckett asked, since she and Castle had bought one once they'd decided to move to the Hamptons.

"Yeah, that's the best place," Julia said eagerly. She then began to eagerly recount the concert, though they'd all been there with her. She couldn't help it, so excited after even the two hour performance. As Alexis took her mug, she sighed since she knew then what it was time for, but as her mother picked her up she asked, "Are we going back tomorrow?"

"We are," Beckett replied, kissing her temple. "I hope you'll sleep in the car tomorrow, you're getting to bed so late tonight," she said.

"I'm not sleepy Mommy, ever," Julia replied.

"You will be once you lay down," Castle commented as they were in Alexis' room and he handed his fiancée their daughter's pajamas as she changed her.

"No," Julia said, shaking her head after slipping her arms through the sleeves in her pajama shirt. She then looked thoughtful and asked, "Are you Mommy?"

"Tired?" Beckett asked, not surprised at the question. "A little, but I'm going to go to sleep as soon as we tuck you in. Martha, Alexis," she called since she was taking Julia into the bathroom.

"I could play her a song," Alexis told her dad as she walked into the room.

" _Golden Slumbers_?" Castle suggested.

"I have my own songs," Alexis said with a smile, going to her sitar. "I asked Padma to teach me this one, it's simple, and it's a lullaby from India."

"You're gonna play," Julia said, rushing to her sister, seeing her sitting on her side of the bed with the instrument in hand.

"Yep, night little sis, we've got a big weekend ahead of us," Alexis said before she and Julia shared a kiss. "Love you."

Smiling and nodding once, Julia went to Martha, hugging and sharing a kiss with her after she made sure Castle's mother was going to be arriving at the Hamptons the next day. Going to Castle she hugged him as he picked her up saying, "Thank you a lot for letting me meet Paul, I'm so happy. But not as much as I am for the wedding being in two days."

"You're very welcome sweetheart," Castle told her, kissing her temple gently. "And I was glad to meet Paul. As for the wedding, I'm agreeing with you on that, it's about time," he said, smiling when she giggled. He shared a kiss with her, and then laid her down on the bed after telling her he loved her to her nod, letting his fiancée go to her.

"Sweet dreams sweetie, I love you so much," Beckett said, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"Love you Mommy, I'm happy you like Paul's music too," Julia said with a smile. "And 'cause you're my mommy."

"Thank you Julia," Beckett said as she tucked her in. She stepped back and nodded to Alexis, who began to play. She was a little surprised that the young woman was able to play so well, but reminded herself the sitar was her second instrument. Looking at Julia, she smiled, seeing her eyes were already drooping and towards the end of the song, they closed completely.

After they'd waved their goodnights to Alexis, Castle, Beckett and Martha went out to the hall, saying goodnight before he took his fiancée's hand, leading her down to their room.

"A nice little break from everything," Beckett was telling her fiancé as he came out into the room from the bedroom a few minutes later, both of them then dressed in their pajamas.

"I know, I didn't think of the wedding once well… that's a lie, the songs we're using for our reception made me think of it," Castle said, sitting on her edge of the bed as she walked over to him. "But in a positive way of course," he assured her with a slight grin. "I can go ahead?"

"Yes," Beckett said, pretending to be annoyed when he raised her pink shirt to reveal her abdomen. "I'm getting the feeling you'll notice when I'm showing before I do," she teased him though she was immensely touched by how he insisted on doing that every night. She ran her fingers through his hair as he pressed a few brief kisses over their baby and then said, "Let's get some sleep love." She smiled as he stood in front of her, and she wrapped her arms around him, taking his kiss. It was a lot deeper than the ones they'd shared at the concert, and she moaned softly as his tongue was lightly rubbing back and forth over her lower lip.

"I'm not trying to make you change your mind," Castle said a few moments later when they parted to breathe. "I agreed to that week and I'm sticking to it… why did I?"

"I'm surprised you did," Beckett said as he let her go and got on the bed. She removed her robe and threw it to the chair saying, "I really wanted our first time after the wedding to be special; also to see if we could last this long now I'm more in the mood for it…"

"I'm not angry you couldn't," Castle groaned, since she'd liked to tease him about his frustration for the past three weeks since her arousal hadn't really been there. He hadn't minded, knowing it was the pregnancy that was doing it, but the few times they'd been together she hadn't been as passionate. He just hoped the week they'd agreed on to stop being intimate would bring her desire back to what it had been. "But I get the feeling you'll be highly aroused," he said, teasing her then as he did when she did that to him.

"We'll see," Beckett said, smiling before they shared another kiss. When they parted and pressed their foreheads together she murmured, "Love you."

"Adore you love," Castle said, brushing his lips against her gently. He finally helped her lay down before he could kiss her deeper, knowing they had an early morning to get back to the Hamptons in time to get their license. He lay behind her and entwined their fingers together on her side before he murmured a goodnight to her, hearing her soon falling asleep. He smiled at that, and leaned over, kissing her cheek before he got up, going to the edge of his side of the bed. He rubbed his eyes, not tired yet and feeling his thoughts about the wedding coming back to him.

Turning back to his fiancée, Castle watched her for a moment and then got up, going to his shirt he'd worn to the concert, taking out the piece of paper he had with him since two weeks before, so many scratched out words and corrections he had to wonder if he'd be able to copy it onto a clean sheet to be able to memorize it to read it at the wedding. He luckily was able to read it as it was, and breathed out, hoping his vows said enough of what he felt for Beckett to let her know he was treating that marriage far more seriously than his other two.

So intent on repeating to himself his vows; having memorized them already; Castle didn't notice his fiancée waking up, and that allowed Beckett to go over to him since he was faced towards the wall. "Rick?" she asked him, jumping when did. "What's wrong?" she said when he hurriedly folded the paper and put it away. She smiled and said, "Your vows?"

"Yeah, we should be in bed," Castle said, taking her arm and trying to distract her.

"Are you nervous about them?" Beckett asked.

"My vows the last two times I did at the last minute," Castle confessed her as they lay back down on the bed. "They weren't that good, and I just spouted the cliché things you usually hear. I needed to get them right so I wasn't insulting you."

Studying him as they were laying down facing one another, Beckett smiled and said, "I don't think you could insult me. But to let you know something; I've been worrying about mine."

"Do you have them set already?" Castle asked.

"Pretty much, I might have to add something about loving how wonderful a father you are," Beckett said. "But since I just told you I think I don't need to." She smiled when he did before they both leaned in to share a kiss. When they parted, she ran her fingertips over his lower lip saying, "Get some sleep love, not much longer."

"Still too long," Castle said, not surprised when she nodded in agreement and they closed the gap between them once more. Kissing her deeply, he held her close to him, and continued to do so as they said a final goodnight before going to sleep together. That time the worry about his vows wasn't so pressing, knowing she already was aware of how he felt for her. Since he could easily feel how she felt about him in the press of her lips when they kissed, he knew that she could tell every time he took her lips with his own; gentle or rough; he gave her his love eagerly and was aware as he nodded off that they would be giving that to each other and feeling it from one another for a long time yet.


	17. Not For Just An Hour, Not For Just a Day, Not For Just a Year... But Always

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have some Hindi here, well, just one word in English text and also in Devanagari text- I believe-, it means love.
> 
> The title of this chapter is lyrics from the song Always by Irving Berlin, the version I've taken it from is from Paul McCartney's album Kisses on the Bottom. The lyrics to the song are in this chapter as well.

"Okay, thank you sweetie, you got it," Beckett said, looking at herself in the mirror. She turned around and smiled at her daughter saying, "You can go get-" before she was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," she called, having an idea who it was. She moved her slight train out of the way as she went to the coffee table in front of the fireplace, picking up her sash. She smiled as Martha, Alexis and Lanie walked in then, beginning to exclaim over her wedding dress. She was still feeling like the moment was slightly surreal, as it was finally the seventeenth and they were only less than an hour away from the ceremony. "Alexis?" she said, holding up the light blue fabric.

"So Dad wants me to see him," the young woman said, taking the sash and putting it around Beckett's waist. "Really quickly."

"For any reason?" Beckett asked.

"I don't think so," Alexis replied. "Maybe to save him from Esposito and Ryan joking with him or something, who knows. Or maybe your dad threatening him?"

"Oh," Beckett said with a laugh that was still strained in her slight nervousness. "My dad knows that I would never forgive him if he tried to do that." When she felt Alexis stop, she turned and said, "You look great."

"So do you, my dad will be floored by you," Alexis replied.

"He will," Martha said as Beckett tried to speak, Lanie quickly agreeing with her.

Beckett smiled at that and went back to the mirror to see how the light blue fabric looked. She touched her aquamarine pendant which she was wearing, along with her earrings and bracelets. She ran her hands over the front of her sleeveless dress that was white, the over dress looking like it was lace. It was a tight silhouette and she was relieved she hadn't gained any weight from the pregnancy since buying the dress, or else she would have lost the dress of her dreams; though she hadn't known it was that until she'd first tried it on. She then noticed Lanie behind her in the mirror, and she smiled at her, turning around. "So I look okay?" she asked her quietly as Julia was talking to Martha and Alexis.

"Girlfriend, you look amazing, and though I can't forgive you completely for not taking me with you to pick this out," Lanie began, taking her hands. "I'll forgive you enough to not be mad because you look happy. How do you feel?"

"Okay, I… don't really feel that tired," Beckett replied. "I just hope he's a little nervous too," she said softly.

"Oh, I'll be right back," Alexis said, having heard that and remembering her dad. She hugged Julia tightly, being careful of her dress, and then left, going down the hall to her room where she found him all alone. "Did they leave?" she asked, seeing her dad was straightening his light blue tie in the mirror above her dresser.

"Yeah, they're going to head down for some mimosas," Castle commented, turning when Alexis made him. "So you're okay with this right? I don't want to hear you protesting," he told her as she straightened his lapels.

"I've been waiting for this too Dad, and if I was against it, I wouldn't have been planning your wedding at all," Alexis told him.

"How is she?" Castle asked when there was a long pause as they were quiet.

"A little nervous, she was just saying she hopes you are too," Alexis replied.

"Are you kidding? I'm terrified," Castle said, laughing before he became serious. "Kate is… a woman who is…"

"Different from the other women you've been with?" Alexis asked with a smile. "Especially in the fact she never threw herself at you."

"Yeah, that's a major factor," Castle said in agreement, nodding fervently. He then leaned against the dresser looking at her saying, "And I think having what I didn't end up having with your mom…" he said, trailing off as he was worried that was insulting to Alexis.

"Let me say it for you," the young woman told him. "You grew up without a steady father, so when Mom got pregnant with me you resolved to be the best one you could. But with your marriage to Mom failing, and then your marriage to Gina failing you became afraid you weren't meant to have a family and a wife you could love as deeply as you've ended up loving Beckett. So you're nervous about proving to her you'll be a great father and will love her too; devotedly; because you want to keep having this great family we have now."

"You are so good you're a little creepy," Castle said, gathering his daughter in his arms. "Does that bother you at all? How I feel about her?"

"I've watched you with your girlfriends Dad, Beckett's been different, and it's not just because of Julia," Alexis said. "Believe me, after taking so many psych classes, I can tell you've grown up in that love you feel for her. Relieved to see it since I figured out that you were searching after a while."

"Your gram told me something similar the other day," Castle said. "Okay, I'll let you go back to the bride, but-" he started to say before there was a flurry of knocks on the door. "Hold on a second, I think that'll be the flower girl." He went to the door and opened it saying, "Well, well, the princess has decided to pay me a visit." He laughed when Julia wrinkled her nose and said, "What?"

"I don't wanna be a princess," the little girl told him seriously. "Say I'm a dancer."

"How about I just say you look very pretty sweetheart?" Castle said.

When Julia glanced at her, looking nervous, Alexis seemed to guess what she wanted, and said, "I'll see you outside Dad; and Beckett will be surprised when she goes out."

"I'm hoping," Castle said, kissing her cheek before she left. "Okay," he told Julia, leaning down and kissing her cheek. "Take these to your mom, and tell her I love her okay?"

"Kay," Julia replied, taking the little cloth bag. She shared a kiss with him and then walked back to the master bedroom, seeing Martha in the doorway to the bathroom. "Where's Mommy?" she asked her.

"I'm here sweetie," Beckett said, sitting in front of the mirror as Lanie was doing her makeup. "What's that?"

"From Castle, and he said he loves you," Julia said.

"Jewelry?" Lanie said as Beckett took the pouch.

"No, we agreed what I'm wearing now was enough," she replied, upending the contents between the two sinks. She smiled when she saw the white flowers and said, "They're orchids."

"For your hair?" Alexis asked. "If you're going to put them on I would ask Gram, she knows how to do that from past roles."

"Actually," Martha said when Beckett looked to her. "I would put one here, behind your left ear. And the rest why don't you sprinkle them over your hair, whatever looks good pin them in place."

Since Lanie had finished with her makeup, Beckett tucked one of the small orchids at her left ear, and then let Martha shake the rest onto the top of the bun her hair was done up in. Since a few clung there, she let Castle's mother pin them before she looked at the result in a hand mirror. "It looks great," she said. "Thank you."

"I'm happy to help in some way," Martha said.

"Mommy, is it time yet?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Not yet," Beckett said, looking at the clock on the wall. "Pretty soon though." She watched as Julia hurried to look out the windows in the bedroom as they left the bathroom. She couldn't help but remember the day before as she watched the little girl, when she and Castle had ended up going with their daughter to City Hall.

* * *

_"Alright," the man behind the counter said as he entered Castle and Beckett's names, seeing immediately out of the two the writer had been divorced twice before. "It says here the only thing I need to issue this license is paperwork that you…" He paused and then slapped the side of the monitor before saying, "Sorry, my computer screen might be starting to go. Mr. Castle, you're the only one out of you two who should have paper work… thank you," stopping when he was handed the papers by the writer. "Okay, so everything is in order with that and here is your license. When will you be having the ceremony?"_

_"Tomorrow, Judge Carpenter will be officiating," Castle said._

_"Oh, Frank, Carpenter's doing a wedding tomorrow, she'll be back with the license," the man called to someone behind the counter. "That'll be taken care of, congratulations."_

_"Thank you," Beckett said, about to take Julia's hand so they could go as Castle had the paper in hand. She was surprised though when the little girl instead went up to the counter and stood on tiptoe to peer over it._

_"How can I help you young lady?" the man asked, smiling at her._

_"I-Is this where I get adopted?" Julia asked._

_"This is your daughter?" the man asked Castle and Beckett._

_"She's mine," Beckett replied. "Sweetie, those papers are coming from the city, we'll sign them tomorrow."_

_"Oh… thank you," Julia said, sounding disappointed._

_"You're welcome and congratulations to you too," the man said._

_"Tomorrow sweetheart," Castle said after handing his fiancée the license and picking up their daughter. "I called and the man will be at the ceremony so we can sign those papers as soon as your mom and I are married."_

* * *

"Beckett?" Alexis asked softly, getting her attention. "Think I could talk to you?"

"Sure," Beckett said, standing up.

"I'll head out and get a drink," Lanie said, smiling as she had an inkling of what Alexis wanted to talk to Beckett about. She took her friend's hands and said, "Deep breaths Kate, think about the baby needing that oxygen."

"I know and I'm fine," Beckett said, laughing at that advice. She hugged her friend tightly and said, "Thank you for accepting this."

"It's what I wanted for you girl, you and Castle make each other happy; or your love as I should say, you and your love," Lanie replied, laughing when Beckett shook her head with a smile.

Beckett turned to Alexis when Lanie had left saying, "Julia-"

"Is fine there," Alexis replied quickly. "Look, I just wanted to say… I hope you'll see how much Dad loves you, even when he's being a little immature or annoying you."

"I've come to love that in your father, because luckily he knows now when to stop," Beckett told her, smiling. "And I do love him… a lot."

"A lot, a lot," Julia piped up, making the other three laugh.

"And I wanted to say one thing," Martha said once her granddaughter stepped aside for her, taking Beckett's hands. "Take care of my son, I've watched him for so long trying to have a family like others did; a loving couple who loved their children. He's never been so close as he is now, and he adores you, he really does."

Tears in her eyes that Beckett tried to blink away, she nodded and when she was a little more in control of her voice said, "I swear Martha, I will. I have what I've been looking for with him, and I don't want to lose that."

Sharing a hug with her soon to be daughter in law, Martha said, "Let's give them a moment alone. Alexis will be back to pick you up darling," directing the first to her granddaughter and the second to Julia. She went to the door, holding Alexis by the hand, and stopped abruptly when she opened it to discover her son on the other side. "Richard!"

"Dad! You can't see-" Alexis said quickly, trying to get in front of him though he was more than tall enough to see past them.

"It's alright," Beckett called to them with a smile as Castle couldn't look at her because the two were pushing, trying to get him back. "We're not really sticking with that tradition. A lot of people do that before they're married, and they don't all stay that way."

"Well, just pay attention to the time," Martha said.

Julia hurried to Castle and wrapped her arms around him tightly saying, "Mommy loves the flowers."

"I can tell," Castle said with a smile. "And you do look so pretty sweetheart," he told her, picking her up just so he could share a kiss with her.

Back on the ground, Julia checked her sleeveless white dress to make sure everything was alright. The wavy hem was straight and seeing that her wide light blue sash; matching her mother's; was okay, she went out the door with Alexis and Martha, closing it behind her.

Once they were alone, Castle took his fiancée's hands and squeezed them tightly saying, "You look absolutely stunning love," looking into her eyes.

"You're lucky you're getting an early peek," Beckett teased him though she could feel her cheeks heating up slightly in response to his comment. "And you look… very nice," she said, cupping her cheek with his hand. "Very nice," she said, her voice a little huskier that time as she stroked his lower lip with her thumb.

"Can I kiss you, or not yet still?" Castle asked, wanting to badly.

"Not yet, not unless you want to tell me where we're going," Beckett said. When her fiancé made a face she smiled saying, "I was waiting for you," going over to the table where their pictures were. "To let you watch," she then said as she tucked her comb into her bun, making sure none of the flowers were displaced. "Thank you for the flowers," she told him, watching him behind her in the mirror.

"You're welcome, and I'm going to go crazy you know," Castle commented, wanting to kiss her desperately as he watched her.

"It's almost time," Beckett said, picking up something from the nightstand. It was the boutonniere that she'd had made, with two short sprigs of slightly open delphinium and three sprigs of Bells of Ireland. She pinned it to his lapel, and wasn't too surprised when he grabbed her hands tightly, holding her close to him. "I love you Rick," she breathed as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I love you Kate, so much," Castle said, turning her hands up to him. He paused and then said, "I can kiss these right?"

"One kiss," Beckett teased him, smiling. But that dropped off her lips as his lips brushed against her palms very gently, and she was left biting her lower lip.

"Okay?" Castle suddenly asked, reaching out and placing his hand on her stomach.

"Never better," Beckett said with a smile before there was a knock at the door. "Dad?" she called.

"I guess that means I need to go," Castle said as Jim stepped inside. "I'll see you outside love," he told her, kissing the backs of her hands that time. He then whispered to her and left, nodding when her dad clasped him on the shoulder briefly.

"Katie," Jim said, going to her as Julia ran inside after him. "You look… beautiful," he said, studying her. "I wish she could be here," he said honestly.

"I know," Beckett whispered, hugging him tightly. "But I think in a way she is. We three share her blood," she said, smiling at Julia reassuringly. "Me, Julia, and the baby." She then saw Alexis walk inside and she asked, "It's time?"

"It's time," the young woman replied. "Dad's already down there with Gram, ready to walk down to the beach."

"Okay, get your bouquets," Beckett said, going for hers which she and Castle had designed together with their daughter at Julia's insistence. It was largely white orchids, but there were swooping stems of delphinium and Bells of Ireland, and she took her dad's arm as they went out when Alexis came back from looking downstairs. "Thank you," she told Castle's daughter when she reached the top of the stairs. "And again, you look great, you made the perfect choice."

Smiling, since Beckett had let her select her dress, Alexis hugged Julia with one arm before she checked the little girl's hair that was loose with a blue band in it, and then her own. The sleeveless light blue dress was the same color as their sashes, and was marked by a high waist that was embroidered the same blue as the rest of the dress. She'd kept her hair loose, to match her little sister and a blue band was in it too. "Okay, careful with your flowers," she told Julia as they went down the stairs then at Lanie's beckoning to them at the door before she headed out to the seats.

"Thanks," Beckett said as Alexis went back to her to fix her train though it didn't take long to do that. She squeezed Julia's hand before she went with her sister outside, and she and her dad remained in the shadows of the house, watching the two.

"Ready?" Jim asked his daughter when the two were nearly to the end of the aisle where Castle was standing.

Not trusting herself to speak, Beckett nodded and followed him to the steps, nearly freezing when she saw the white lotuses that were marking the aisle through the grass up to where they paused. She looked at her fiancé, seeing the smile on his face even from there, and she knew that had been his idea as he had commented the week before that he regretted they hadn't used those flowers, since they meant wisdom and compassion among other things to the Hindu religion; what he'd told her was part of what he loved about her. She squeezed her dad's hand as they started down the aisle, whispering to him the meaning of the flowers they were passing through then.

"Then he loves you Katie," Jim replied quickly before they reached the carpet over the sand, the lotus mixing with orchids.

At that moment Julia handed her little bouquet of delphinium and Bells of Ireland to Lanie who was sitting next to Jim's empty seat, and then rushed down the aisle to her mother, making the guests chuckle.

Smiling as she knew what Julia was doing, Beckett switched her flowers to her other hand, and she took her daughter's as her dad walked them the rest of the way to Castle and the judge.

Kissing his daughter's cheek lovingly, Jim then did the same to Julia telling Castle, "Take care of them all," since he wanted to include the baby as well.

"I will," Castle replied seriously before Beckett leaned down and shared a kiss with Julia, who then stepped back to let Alexis straighten her mother's train. He took his fiancée's hand; ' _Not for much longer_ ,' he told himself; as they then turned to the judge.

"Friends and family, we are here today to join Richard and Katherine to celebrate their union in marriage and it is their desire to have you here to witness their vow to love and honor one another," Judge Carpenter said once everyone was seated. She then continued saying, "Richard and Katherine, may you always need one another, to have that part of your souls that has been missing and what you have discovered in each other."

Squeezing Castle's hand as they'd requested she say that line when they'd spoken with the judge about the ceremony, Beckett smiled slightly at him, listening to the woman speak a little about marriage itself, and what their vows would mean to them. When he squeezed her hand back she felt a bit calmer, but that was thrown a little when the judge turned to Castle.

"You've written your own vows today and Richard, I'll have you go first," the judge said.

Waiting for Beckett to hand Alexis her bouquet, Castle took both her hands, and thanked his mother mentally for making him able to memorize so easily before he took a deep breath and spoke. "Kate, we've known each other for a long time, and I know that we have a long ways yet to go. We've had our good and bad; all a part a life; and through all that we've stayed together, neither of us ever being able to let go of what we have with one another. I find my joy in you, and promise you here and now that I will never lose my desire to feel that whenever you look at me, when you smile or laugh at me as well. I have never loved like I have with you, and it has made me a better man. There is so much yet to experience with you, so much more we have to come, I swear to you I have more than enough to keep my soul bound to yours. You are my soul mate, my love and soon, very soon you will become my wife and I will have what I have always wanted with only you. You have my heart and I give it to you willingly because I adore you, always," he said, staring into her eyes the entire time he spoke.

Trying not to start crying in happiness at that, Beckett waited for the judge to cue her vows, and taking a deep breath as he'd done before, she squeezed his hands saying, "I've never allowed myself to think I could experience all the happiness you have given me Rick, but you've done it. And I find myself needing you, so deeply that I almost feared it. But you've convinced me that this love isn't something I need to hide from, or take so little of. I love now because we are together, because we are each other's yin and yang. We are the balance that I have needed all my life and spent almost a lifetime searching for. You are the father to our daughter; to our child I carry now within me." She wasn't surprised to hear a few murmurs at that, since she'd convinced Castle to let her reveal her pregnancy to their guests who didn't know already in her vows; since by then she'd already written them. "And together we have a family that is already strong, bound by love and respect. What we have, I never want to lose as I find I can't stop feeling that joy in your love for me. I have given you my heart already; the rings we exchange make it reality. I need you by my side because I love you Rick, always."

Trying not to squeeze her hands hard enough to hurt, Castle could feel the tears slightly pricking his eyes as she had been very serious. He heard the judge ask Julia to bring the rings, and he smiled with Beckett down at her.

Holding the box that Martha had carried down the aisle, Julia raised the lid so Castle could take out her mother's ring first.

"Katherine Houghton Beckett," he said as he held the ring above her left hand. "With this ring I give you my eternal _prem_ , my _grá_ , my undying love. It is yours to have with you always and to keep close to your heart." He nearly breathed out harshly when he slid the rounded silver band onto her left ring finger, seeing it settle there as if it belonged there.

"Katherine," Judge Carpenter said, nodding to her.

Smiling as she cupped Julia's cheek before taking Castle's ring which was like hers; though obviously bigger; Beckett turned to him and taking his left hand, held the ring above his finger telling him, "Richard Alexander Castle," having been urged by him to use his former middle name since he'd reminded her of the psychic's daughter telling her she'd know an Alexander who would be important to her; and save her life. She couldn't help smile at that and then said seriously, "With this ring I give you my eternal _prem_ , my _grá_ , my undying love. It is yours to have with you always and to keep close to your heart." She felt a little shaky sliding the ring down his finger, but it was soon in place, and she took his hands tightly in hers, knowing that all they needed was the final comments from the judge.

"Congratulations, and by the power invested in me by the state of New York, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss each other," Judge Carpenter said with a smile.

Wrapping his arms around his wife tightly, Castle's head was spinning while he kissed her, careful not to get too out of hand as she'd had them not kiss since the afternoon before. But he lingered, missing Judge Carpenter introducing them before Beckett pulled away first.

Smiling widely at him, Beckett took her bouquet from Alexis, squeezing her hand tightly in her thanks again before fixing her skirt and taking her husband's hand. Like Castle; she felt a brief shock at saying that mentally, and knowing that it was true was making her almost literally dizzy. But as they walked back up to the grass; the guests throwing the same kind of white orchids in her hair over them, she leaned against him before they stopped close to the house. As soon as they had, she was wrapping her arms around him tightly saying, "We did it."

"I know, now you're stuck with me," Castle joked, smiling when she tried to glare at him before she laughed. He kissed her and said, "I mean that much to you?"

"I mean that much to you," Beckett shot back with a wide smile. "So probably a good thing we did get married, a lot of passion for a passing relationship."

"I know," Castle said, kissing her again before he felt Julia throw herself at them.

"I'm so happy!" the little girl cried when the two looked down at her. "Are you?"

"Very," Beckett said, Castle nodding in agreement with her. She saw his mother, her dad and Alexis walking up to them with the judge, and a man in a suit. "Lanie," she called to her friend.

As the doctor was directing everyone to the tent on the far side of the lawn, Castle took Beckett and their family inside to the dining room. There Judge Carpenter had them sign the wedding license which they quickly did.

"Congratulations to you both," the woman said, shaking their hands. "I'll take this to City Hall."

"Thank you," Beckett said, Castle echoing her.

"Alright, Mr. Castle, Ms. Beckett," the man said, setting down the adoption papers that Castle had mostly signed back in February. "I just need you to sign first," he told Beckett. "Here, here and here. Mr. Castle, here, initial here, and sign here again."

Julia, standing next to her mother who was sitting at one of the table chairs, watching them sign where the man had directed, was a little breathless when he gathered them up and put them into a file.

"Alright, I'll take these back into the city, and they'll be filed immediately, but she is your daughter Mr. Castle," the man said. "Congratulations to you both," he said, shaking their hands before Jim led him out before he came back.

"Okay, so, that's it," Castle said, smiling at the little girl. "We're a family, absolutely one now."

There was silence for what seemed like a long time, before Julia was tugging on Castle's jacket sleeve, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. When he looked down at her she reached up and as soon as she was in his arms, she was hugging him tightly and she said after a brief second of hesitation, "I love you Daddy."

The sound of those words he had been waiting so long for; that they were all waiting for; made Castle a split second slower to react than he would have normally. But he was soon hugging her even tighter than he was already telling her, "I love you too Julia, so much," before he kissed her tenderly.

Tears in her eyes, Beckett wrapped her arms around them, not surprised when Castle wrapped his free arm around her, holding them both to him. She smiled when she pulled back, and she brushed the tear from his cheek saying, "We both love you."

"I know," Castle said, leaning down and kissing her. "Want to go down?"

"Yes please," Julia said, smiling at him, happy with his reaction to what she'd said. Once he'd set her down, she ran to Alexis and said, "I love you… big sister?"

"'Lexis is fine, or Alexis," the young woman said, kneeling and hugging her tightly to her. They shared a kiss and said, "I love you too little sis, Jules."

Kissing Alexis' cheek, Julia went to Martha and after she had picked her up told her, "I love you too Gram," a little shyly.

"Oh darling, I love you too, so much, I'm very happy right now too, for our whole family," Martha told her, smiling widely and a little tearfully before they shared a kiss and a hug.

"Why don't we leave these two alone for a moment," Jim said when Castle's mother handed him Julia. "They have gifts to exchange."

"One thing," Alexis said, going to her father's wife. She took Beckett's hands and said, "Congratulations Kate, I know you'll make my dad happy."

"Thank you Alexis," Beckett said touched at hearing the young woman saying her name, squeezing her hands back. She smiled when the four left, turning to her husband. "So, gifts?"

"And honeymoon," Castle assured her with a laugh as he watched her get one of the packages at the other end of the table, suddenly remembering the night before after the rehearsal dinner when their parents and daughters gave them their wedding gifts.

* * *

_"Okay, we have everything already here," Martha was saying as she led the others into the dining room._

_"We can't do this tomorrow after the ceremony?" Castle asked with a sigh as he sat next to Beckett. "We need to get up early."_

_"It won't take you that long Richard, please," Martha said, gesturing to Beckett._

_"Should we go in a specific order?" Beckett asked._

_"Open mine first?" Julia asked shyly._

_"Okay," Castle said, taking the small box she handed them. "I'll let you do the honors."_

_"We'll love it sweetie," Beckett assured their daughter as she untied the unwrapped box. Pulling off the top, she smiled when she took out an incense holder, shaped like a white lotus saying, "You were listening to your daddy and I weren't you?"_

_Giggling, as Julia knew that Castle had ordered the white lotus to use at the wedding, she nodded and said, "I bought it by myself, and Alexis said it was a good gift."_

_"She's right," Castle said, smiling at his daughter. "And looks like you gave us some incense. We should use this in our office, we might need it."_

_"More than likely we will," Beckett teased him, looking at the different kinds of scents, seeing the packages all had names of Hindu deities on them._

_"That temple incense is really good," Alexis said as Beckett pulled out a pack below the deity scents. "I bought some myself and am going to take with me to Columbia when I move into the dorm."_

_"It does smell nice," Castle said, sniffing the incense through the package. "Thank you so much sweetheart."_

_"We did love it," Beckett said, wrapping her arm around Julia who was next to her. She kissed her daughter's cheek and said, "We'll put this away with you later okay?"_

_"Kay, open 'lexis' next!" Julia exclaimed eagerly._

_Taking the slightly bigger box, Castle commented, "Not sure shirts work as a wedding gift," not surprised when Alexis just shook her head. He took off the cover on the box, and took out a framed picture, and a length of fabric. "I think we found what to put on that table," he told his fiancée, handing her the blue silk._

_"That's sari fabric, they sell that by the bolt at the store," Alexis explained. "I knew you were looking for something to cover up the table since it didn't work with the rest of your room's décor."_

_"It's beautiful," Beckett said, holding it out so Julia could touch the flowers that were in the slightly burnished silver color over the blue. "And thank you for the picture, you heard us talking about wanting to get one for the room."_

_"I did, and seeing that one I had to buy it," Alexis said as Beckett was holding up the picture of Shiva and Parvati that she'd framed. "The peacock in the front made it scream to me."_

_"How does that happen?" Julia asked, peering at the picture before Castle passed it to his mother._

_"Well, remember when we were looking for the incense holder?" Alexis reminded her._

_"Oh," Julia said. "Another present!" she then cried out, jumping up and down._

_Martha stood then and slid her gift across to them saying, "If you'll allow me…" unsnapping the latches on the box before she raised the lid._

_"Those are… beautiful," Beckett said. "And I think we have our toasting glasses."_

_"I think so, did you buy these?" Castle asked, picking up one of the two champagne flutes that were in the box._

_"These were my great, great, great-grandmother's," Martha replied. "They made their way over from the home country; Ireland." When Beckett looked at her at that, she smiled and said, "They're Waterford Crystal and about the only thing that survived when my mother's family came over here. They've been well protected, and passed down woman to woman except for my grandfather, he was an only child, on their marriage. And since you're my only child Richard, I'm giving them to you."_

_"So you didn't tell me about these until now?" Castle asked, looking at Beckett._

_"It wasn't right to give them to you before," Martha said. "So I hope you'll use them tomorrow."_

_"Thank you so much Martha," Beckett said, jumping up and going to her. She hugged her tightly saying, "It'll be an honor to use these; tomorrow and on special occasions."_

_Smiling as he watched his daughter pull away from Castle's mother, Jim stood and said, "And this is my gift for you both," pushing a larger box towards Castle as Beckett went back to sit next to him. "And it goes a little with Martha's gift though I didn't realize it would until now."_

_Lifting the lid on the box, Beckett said, "Mom's china?"_

_"She wanted you to have it," Jim said with a smile. "Since you had loved using it at Christmas. I never used it after the last one we spent with her. And remember, it's from Waterford Crystal too."_

_Beckett went quickly to him, hugging him tightly as she said, "Thank you so much."_

_"It's a beautiful set," Castle said quickly when Jim and his fiancée looked to him. "I like the pattern," he said, looking at the black abstract pattern on a light grey background that was on the very edges of the plates. "These'll be nice to use come Christmas. Did your mom's family bring that over with them?"_

_"No, these her grandmother bought on her honeymoon," Jim explained. "Not in Ireland, but at a store in Washington DC where they were selling them."_

_"Okay, then we'll definitely use these," Castle said before Beckett came over to him, hugging him tightly. "For now," he said as they started to put everything back in their boxes. "Let's get some sleep, since we've got an early day tomorrow."_

* * *

"I forgot to say," Beckett said, breaking into Castle's remembering the night before. "Nice paraphrasing that lyric from _Crackerbox Palace_ ," setting down a long thin case.

"Hey, it's an apt line, we haven't had the smoothest path to this day, but in the end, worth it," Castle said, standing up quickly. He undid the clasps and when he lifted the cover paused, looking at his wife.

Smiling, Beckett said, "Actually he shipped this over for me," watching as Castle took the sword out. "But it is from Toledo."

"It's amazing," Castle said as he stepped away from her a little to take it out of its sheath, studying the blue, silver and gold he had his hand around. "The work on the hilt is… beautiful… look at the etching."

"I know, my dad showed it to me when he came home," Beckett told him. "He sent me pictures on his phone so I could pick, and that seemed to be the best one."

"And look at this balance," Castle said, balancing the blade on his fingers, just below the hilt. He quickly put the sword away and went to Beckett, kissing her gently on the lips. "I always did want a sword from there."

"I know, I heard you," Beckett replied with another, wider smile. "And just in case it's weird giving you a sword as a wedding gift…" she said as she gave him a much smaller, thinner box.

Untying the ribbon and taking off the lid, Castle laughed saying, "Well, at this point I'm well armed, I have both a pen and a sword, so thank you for that love." He kissed her again and looked at the pen, a Carbine pen that he'd wanted but never got around to buying for himself. "Okay, so… another one?" he asked, putting the pen away and about to turn to his gifts for her. But she was holding a bag and he gave her a questioning look before he opened it. "This is-" he started to say, pulling one of the items inside out.

"I talked to David, and he's all for your learning to play," Beckett said, watching him set the polo equipment on the table. "All you have to do is ask. And I bought that, he didn't give it to me; all he told me was what I needed to get."

"Thank you," Castle said, setting the bag with everything else and kissing her deeply on the lips. He was only going to do that quickly, but he was too tempted and he continued for as long as he could until finally they absolutely needed to breathe. "Okay," he said, looking at her. "Yeah, sorry," he said when he tore himself away from her. "First, this," he said, setting down a light blue box.

"I'm not too surprised seeing this," Beckett said, licking her slightly swollen lower lip as she hadn't been unaffected by that kiss. "I just hope it's nothing too…" she trailed off as she pulled out the Lladro. "Rick," she breathed. "Is this…?"

"Your parents have the Andalusian couple, this is the Valencian," Castle said quickly. "I don't know if it'll work in our room or anywhere in the house, but I had to get it for you because… because."

Smiling at his less than detailed explanation, Beckett set down the statue of a couple in traditional Valencian dress, riding together on a horse, and she wrapped her arms around him. "Because that's suppose to be us?"

"You riding behind me is probably only going to happen once in our lifetimes," Castle said simply. "But sure, if it's a more positive view of that time, why not?" He laughed when she pushed him playfully and then took her kiss before he got another box, covered in velvet and unwrapped.

Raising the cover, Beckett breathed out and looked at her husband saying, "You didn't need to love."

"I know, but, we might need to go to a function of some sort," Castle said. "And really, it'll work for dinner parties too if you want to wear it. But that depends on if you like it," he said, watching her closely as she picked up the aquamarine necklace.

"I love it," Beckett said. "The whole set…" She looked at the teardrop aquamarine that hung down from a chain of white gemstones, two smaller aquamarines in the same shape on either side of it. The earrings were much like the ones she was currently wearing, but at the top of the chain leading down to the aquamarine was a cluster of the same white gems. And the bracelet had aquamarines in between the same clusters of white stones as the earrings. "They're beautiful," she said, looking up at him as she put the necklace back down.

"I custom made them, as I used white sapphires," Castle commented. "Diamonds didn't work in it, and I wanted it to be unique, like you though I swear I'm not trying to be cheesy saying that."

Closing the cover of the box, Beckett wrapped her arms around him, kissing him as hard as she could. She felt his arms grip her tightly as he held her, and she nearly forgot they had to start their reception as he responded to her, slipping his tongue into her mouth. But when they had to breathe again, she pulled away and pressing her forehead against his said, "We should go out and take our pictures."

"Hold on," Castle said. He managed to let go of her, and hurried to their office before he came back carrying a picture with an envelope underneath it. "This is your last gift, but I couldn't get it finished in time as I thought of it two weeks ago."

Taking the picture, Beckett saw it was a sketch of the space out at the pool, across from the covered part of it. It had a freestanding rock, with Shiva and Parvati sitting on what looked to be a cow carved on it.

"It'll have a little pond below it, I figured in the summer we could put lotus in there," Castle said, watching her closely. "It's not a shrine, just something to contemplate."

"And because apparently you like to compare us to them," Beckett teased him. When he just smiled at her she laughed and leaned over, kissing him on the lips. "It's beautiful, and it'll be great to see it."

"It should be finished when we come back," Castle promised. "Okay, so now with that…" he told her, presenting her with the envelope.

Beckett quickly took the flap that was tucked into the envelope out and withdrew a folded paper. Reading the destination of the airline tickets, she looked at her husband and dropping the envelope to the table, hugged him tightly as she kissed him, the paper still in her hand.

"So this is alright I guess?" Castle asked when he'd managed to pull himself away from her.

"Alright? It's perfect," Beckett said. She then smiled saying, "So you want to share this with me?"

"Definitely," Castle said. "We'll fly to Dublin and stay the night, catch a small plane tomorrow to Donegal and drive down to Cobh and Cork by the end of the two weeks, almost the same trip I took by myself before we met." He took Beckett's kiss again, holding her tightly before he pulled away and pressed his forehead against her gently. "But before we can go…"

Laughing, Beckett was going to leave when he stopped her and she watched as he took their rings off, seeing प्यार, or love, etched on the inside of the bands. "I could feel it after you put the ring on my finger," she told him, smiling as he put hers back on and she reciprocated for him. She then looked on as he took her engagement ring out of his inner jacket pocket, and slipped it above her wedding band. "Let's go," she said, smiling at him after they'd exchanged a quick kiss. She took his hand and they left, going outside to where their family was waiting for them to go to the gazebo to take their wedding pictures with them.

* * *

"Should we mingle?" Castle asked Beckett as everyone had finished their food under the tent.

"I think so, we didn't do that before we ate," she pointed out with a smile. "Want to come with us sweetie?"

"Kay," Julia said eagerly before getting off her chair next to them. She took her mother's hand as her father took Beckett's other hand and followed them to the first table where her aunts and uncles were sitting.

"I'm so happy for you," Lanie said as soon as Beckett came over to her. She hugged her friend tightly saying, "You don't look too tired."

"I feel fine," Beckett replied, shaking her head. "So was it a nice ceremony?"

"Went pretty well, I'm wondering what you said when you exchanged rings," Lanie replied.

"Both words mean love, in Hindi and Irish," Beckett explained. "We've gotten interested in Hinduism, not majorly, but enough so…"

"And the Irish?" Ryan asked.

"Because we both are partially," Castle said as Beckett hugged their former partner before doing the same with Jenny. "And it's an interesting language."

"So you're happy," Jenny asked.

"Very," Beckett said. "And Ryan, we're actually going to Ireland."

"For the honeymoon?" Lanie asked in surprise. When Beckett and Castle nodded she said, "I always thought you wanted to go somewhere tropical."

"We did that already," Beckett said easily, seeing her husband turning to her. "I've always wanted to go to Ireland, so believe me when I say I'm very happy to be going now."

"You look really happy," Esposito said as Beckett hugged him quickly. "Never thought I'd see you in a dress like that."

"What, a bridal gown?" Beckett asked, shaking her head when he shrugged nonchalantly, knowing he was kidding. "You just think that because it took a long time. We need to keep moving though love."

"I know, ready sweetheart?" Castle asked Julia who was talking to Lanie and Jenny.

"Yeah," the little girl said eagerly. She hurried to him and took his hand as they started going around the tables, eventually making it to the second to last table where May, her husband Luke, their three daughters, Skye, Mary and their daughters were; that one the most crowded.

"Any reason why everyone from California is at one table?" May asked her friend wryly as she hugged Beckett tightly. "And second, you're pregnant!"

"I am," Beckett said with a laugh, having gotten that reaction from a lot of the other guests who hadn't known beforehand. "And before you ask, I'm doing okay."

"Got that a lot I would imagine," May said. "But you should know, if you have any questions, ask me, I've gone through that twice, and luckily once was a single baby, so I can help if you need it."

"I might take you up on that," Beckett said with a smile. "How's George?"

"Good, I wish we could have brought him but he's still too young," May asked. "And before you ask me; I'm good."

Talking to Luke for a moment, Beckett was pleased to see Julia talking with the five girls there at that table; amused that there were so many of them there; but since they were all getting along it seemed like, she went with Castle to Skye. "I'm so glad you could make it," hugging the woman who paused in surprise before hugging her back.

"So you heard about the incident at the crash site I'm guessing," Skye commented with a smile since she'd nearly been shot on a farmer's land by said farmer gathering evidence.

"We did, glad to hear you're okay," Castle said, shaking her hand.

"All that's in the past," the woman said, waving her hand. "So I'll give you my congratulations as well. And about the baby, that was a surprise."

"Especially for her, her mouth dropped open," Mary teased her wife.

Shaking her head, Skye said, "We're going to stay a few more days. In the hotel of course, but would you mind if we used your beach for a bit?"

"Not at all, actually, it would be great if you could bring your daughters," Beckett said before they all looked at the girls who were talking still.

"It'll be nice for Julia to have someone to play with her own age," Castle said. "Julia, come here?"

Going over to them, the little girl looked up at Skye; whom her mother introduced her to; and smiled shyly as she shook her hand. "You were the lady on the plane with my mommy and daddy," she told her.

"I was," Skye replied, watching Beckett squeeze Castle's arm. "And I also drew you a picture of a plane with some horses on it."

"Oh! That's in my room now," Julia said. "Thank you, it's pretty."

"You're welcome," Skye said. "Better get to your last table, it looks like your DJ is about ready to begin the music you have for dancing."

"Great selection to play while we were eating," May commented.

"I know," Castle said with a smile before Beckett got Julia to go with them as they walked over to the table where the people from the Hamptons were sitting. "You owe me."

"It wasn't a bet, I already knew too she'd wear some kind of suit since she asked in the e-mail RSVP she sent," Beckett protested. "I wonder if Skye's ever worn a dress."

"Who knows," Castle said before Rebecca hurried over to them, hugging them both at the same time.

"Sorry, I had to do that because I'm really happy to hear your news," Rebecca said. "And if you need to ask anything at all…"

"Sorry we didn't tell you beforehand," Beckett said.

"It's fine, you were busy planning everything anyways," Rebecca replied, waving her hand in the air in response. "So you're good?"

"Doing great," Beckett said. "She finally started to call him daddy."

"Really?" Rebecca asked, having known about their worry Julia wouldn't do that. "Great to hear. So, where are you going after this?"

"Ireland," Beckett said. "Want anything from there?"

"Just go to enjoy yourselves, buy the souvenirs for your family and yourselves," Rebecca said before Alexis was coming over to them.

"Hey, he's ready to begin the first dance," the young woman told her dad and Beckett.

"We'll talk to you guys later," Castle said before he went to his wife and took her hand as the opening of their song began.

Beckett looked back at Julia as the little girl went with her sister to where Martha and Jim were, and she turned to Castle as they reached the middle of the dance floor, the first verse beginning as they got into a traditional hold at first, beginning to sway.

_Everything went wrong  
_ _And the whole day long  
_ _I'd feel so blue  
_ _For the longest while  
_ _I forgot to smile  
_ _Then I met you  
_ _Now that my blue days have passed  
_ _Now that I've found you at last_

There the music changed, and Castle slid both his arms around Beckett's waist, bringing her closer to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck at the next lyrics. He pressed his cheek to hers, murmuring the lines to her, unable to help it as he couldn't believe still they were there, finally dancing for the first time as husband and wife.

_I'll be loving you, always  
_ _With a love that's true, always  
_ _When the things you've planned  
_ _Need a helping hand  
_ _I will understand  
_ _Always, always_

"Okay Gram?" Alexis whispered as they were watching, seeing tears in her eyes.

"I'm just happy for him," Martha whispered back as the two on the dance floor brushed their lips against each others before the singing started again.

_Days may not be fair, always  
_ _That's when I'll be there, always  
_ _Not for just an hour  
_ _Not for just a day  
_ _Not for just a year  
_ _But always_

At the instrumental, Beckett pulled back enough to look into Castle's eyes and she kissed him, not minding the cheers from some of their friends. She smiled when they pulled apart and moved with him as he spun her around a little. When she heard Paul singing again, she leaned against him, her cheek to his as she murmured the lyrics with him that time.

_Days may not be fair, always  
_ _But that's when I'll be there, always  
_ _Not for just an hour  
_ _No, not for just a day  
_ _Not for just a year  
_ _But always_

The song finished, and Castle and Beckett shared another kiss before the next song began; they'd decided on another slow song, _I'd Have You Anytime_ , to be the next one so they could continue to dance together. A few other couples joined them on the floor, but neither of them noticed until the music was finishing and they finally pulled away before the Queen song they'd chosen began next.

Castle kissed her tenderly before he hurried to get their daughter saying, "Come and dance with us."

Giggling wildly as she was very happy after watching her parents dance the first time, Julia hurried after Castle to her mother before they began to dance together. Since there were three of them, they weren't able to move very much, but she didn't care, jumping up and down as he spun both of them. When there was a pause the little girl hurried to Alexis who'd danced with the son of a friend of Castle's and they went to the chairs at their table on the side of the floor as Castle and Beckett danced with Martha and Jim to a Sinatra song. She smiled when she could tell her grandparents were talking to them wondering what they were saying, but knowing they were both happy. She leaned against her sister when the song _Sat Singing_ began, and Castle and Beckett danced together again, swaying next to Alexis as the smile never left her face.

* * *

Walking into the house a half hour later, Beckett breathed out in relief at the difference in temperature before she headed into the living room, sitting on the couch there. She put her forehead on her hand, cursing her body as she'd become dizzy dancing with Castle again. But she reminded herself that she had likely pushed herself a little too much dancing continuously without a break since her first dance with her husband. It was then she heard someone approaching her and looked up to see it was an older man, dressed in the uniform of the catering company she and Castle had hired.

"I'm sorry ma'am," the man said as he held out a glass of ice water. "I saw you come in and you didn't look too well, thought you could use that."

"Thank you," Beckett said, a little startled at his heavy Irish accent.

"Are you alright? I think one of your guests is a doctor? I could call them if you'd like," the man said.

"Oh no, that's fine, I just needed to rest for a second. But thank you for the water," Beckett said with a smile, wondering why she felt like she could confide in him. She took a sip, surprised to see the man still look concerned and she said, "I'm actually expecting so I'm not exactly myself…"

"Of course," the man replied, looking taken aback before he seemed to recover.

At that moment Julia ran into the house, crying out, "Mommy!" before she found her in the living room. "Are you kay?" she asked, not noticing the man as she climbed onto the couch next to her mother and wrapped her arms around her.

Before Beckett could reply to that, Castle hurried into the room and she didn't realize that then the man had slipped away, as she was quick to reassure her husband at his concerned expression. "I'm fine, I just needed a break," she told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked, sitting on the other side of her, wrapping his arm around her.

"Don't worry, I just danced for way too long," Beckett said, leaning against him slightly. "But it was fun."

"Well, do you feel up to going back out?" Castle asked her smiling as their daughter was nodding in agreement with her.

"I think I need to be, we need to go soon don't we?" Beckett asked.

"Especially since you need to pack," Castle told her. "Sorry."

"Oh don't be," Beckett said as they took Julia's hands and headed for the backyard. "I know what I want to pack already and I can easily find out the weather where we're going."

"Okay, so right now we need to give the bouquet away and then cut the cake before we go," Castle told her as they stepped outside.

"Are you gonna throw it?" Julia asked eagerly.

"You'll see," Beckett said once they'd gone back into the tent.

"Alright?" Skye asked as she was the first person the three came to.

"I'm fine, just a little too much dancing," Beckett assured her as the DJ stopped the music. They continued on to the dance floor and she said, "I know usually the bride is suppose to toss out her bouquet," as the guests were gathered in front of them. "But Castle and I are going to break with tradition again. Julia? Come here sweetie."

A little hesitant at first, Julia left Alexis to go to her mother, hugging her tightly as soon as she'd reached her in her shyness.

"I decided that I should give my bouquet to the one person that pushed Castle and I to get married as constantly as she did, and is probably happier than us two today," Beckett explained. She knelt and handed the flowers to the little girl saying, "These are for you sweetie."

"I'm not gonna get married now am I?" Julia asked worriedly, blushing as the guests laughed softly at that.

"No, this is a thank you from me for wanting us to get married," Beckett told her.

Julia threw her arms around her mother tightly, hugging her with the bouquet in her hand still. "I love you Mommy," she whispered seriously.

"I love you too sweetie, we both do," Beckett assured her. She stood up and let Castle take her hand as the DJ was announcing that they were going to cut their cake.

"I kind of wish I'd brought out the sword," Castle commented as he picked up the knife next to the cake. It had two slightly askew tiers as they'd talked about before, and the delphinium flowers were on it, white orchids and white lotus surrounding it on the table. "So I'll let you direct me, I think you'd want to anyways," he teased her.

Beckett just shot him a look though she soon smiled as she took his hand and helped him cut a slice out of the cake. After he took over to get that slice onto a plate, she held it and fed him a piece after he had turned back to her, not really shoving it into his face, but she did pull her hand away fast enough as she pushed down on his lower lip to make him jerk back before the crumbs got all over it with the white fondant.

"Okay, see, this is why I told you to not wear white," Castle joked as he took another piece from the slice. He fed her carefully, getting the fondant a little smeared on her lower lip before she pushed him, laughing as her lower lip was suddenly white.

"You still managed," Beckett told him as he picked up a napkin and wiped her lip before she took it to brush his mouth clean. As soon as she'd finished, she leaned against him and kissed him deeply, hearing their guests yet again start to whistle. She laughed with him when they heard Lanie's whistle last longer than the others, and she hugged him tightly before they stepped aside to let one of the waiters cut the cake into slices.

* * *

"I can't believe you need to go," Lanie was saying to Beckett as they were hugging.

"We need to make our flight, and I really want to go," Beckett replied as they pulled apart. "Not for that reason," she sighed at her friend's look. "This is why I'm glad I don't tell you details," she told the doctor.

"I've figured out enough," Lanie replied. "And you two must be good together, you're pregnant aren't you?"

Sighing again, though she knew she was joking, Beckett said, "Thank you so much for coming, I'll call you when we get back in two weeks okay?"

"You'll have to tell me what you go see," Lanie said before she turned to Castle who'd just said goodbye to Esposito. "Make sure she doesn't push herself," she told him.

"Believe me, I will keep an eye on her," Castle promised. "Thanks for coming out Lanie, and for helping us with the stuff at the reception."

"I was glad to help, and you know I was right," the doctor said.

"I get the feeling you're going to be pointing that out to us constantly from now on," Castle said, smiling at her.

"Probably," Lanie said with a nod of her head.

"Okay, we need to go," Castle said as they went to Beckett's dad first and he shook the man's hand. "Jim, thank you for that final blessing of our marriage, and me being Julia's dad."

"I was happy to do it. You two be careful over there," Jim told them.

"We will," Beckett said as she hugged her dad tightly. "I love you Dad."

"I love you too Katie, have fun, take a lot of pictures," Jim said.

"We will, bye," Beckett said, going to Castle's mother next with her husband. "Martha, thank you for all your help with this."

"It was my pleasure darling," Martha said, cupping her cheeks before she hugged her son's wife. "It was a wonderful day and you made a beautiful bride."

"Thank you," Beckett said meaningfully, touched.

"You're happy?" Martha asked her son.

"Definitely," Castle said before he hugged his mother briefly. "Thank you," he then told her seriously.

Smiling, Martha patted his shoulder saying, "Nothing to thank me for you love her, and that's all I've wanted for you. Go; go to the mother country and show Beckett where both your ancestors came from."

Kissing her cheek after laughing slightly at her words, Castle went to Alexis where his wife was already saying goodbye, hugging her.

"We'll call every night when it's about eight here so it's right before bedtime," Beckett was telling the young woman. "But besides that, I have to say thanks to you too Alexis, you helped me out so much with the rest of the wedding."

"I was glad to," Alexis replied. "You needed the rest. But take care of my little brother or sister while you're over there."

"I will, you don't need to worry about that," Beckett replied, smiling.

"I'll watch out for her," Castle said, a slight shock still at hearing Alexis referring to the baby as her sibling; though not sure why he felt that. He shook that thought away then and quickly told her thanks before saying, "Enjoy your vacation, we'll be back to help you move."

Beckett had gone to Julia while Castle was still saying goodbye to Alexis, and she'd picked up the little girl telling her, "I'm going to miss you so much sweetie, but we will see you on Skype every night after tonight."

"I'll miss you too Mommy, but you and Daddy need to be alone now," Julia said. She smiled when her mother smiled at her, and said, "I can tell."

"We'll take pictures like we told your grandpapa," Beckett continued, amused that hers and Castle's desire was so apparent even to their daughter. "And we'll get some little gifts for you here and there."

"Can you bring some clovers?" Julia asked.

"We can," Castle answered for Beckett. "We need to head out," he told her.

Nodding, Beckett shared a kiss with Julia saying, "I love you so much sweetie, and tonight we're going to need to rest so I'll say sweet dreams now okay?"

"Kay, I love you Mommy, a lot, a lot, and I'm very happy you got married to Daddy," Julia said seriously before she smiled widely, sharing another kiss with her.

When the little girl was in his arms, Castle kissed her forehead and said, "I love you Julia. And really glad to be your dad now."

"Me too," Julia said a little shyly.

Sharing a kiss with her he then said, "Sweet dreams."

"I love you Daddy, I hope you have fun too," Julia replied, still shyly. She hugged her dad then as he hugged her too, feeling again his joy at her saying that, and it made her happy. She took Alexis' hand once she was set down, and waved with the others as her parents went into the limo in the driveway.

Opening the window, Castle and Beckett waved to their family, the boys, Lanie and Jenny who had remained after the other guests had left. They started laughing when their daughters started throwing the same kind of orchids that had been in Beckett's hair at them, running along with the limo until they went out into the street. As soon as they lost sight of everyone, Castle closed the window and locked the window to the driver before he took his wife in his arms and kissed her hungrily. Beckett's response led to that kiss sliding into a second, then a third, and they finally both lost complete control, just taking the chance to kiss and be able to do so without worrying about others as they didn't stop while they made their way to JFK.

* * *

"Okay, so they got the picture," Beckett said as Castle came up to where she was standing at the window, looking out at their plane.

"Julia like it?" Castle asked. When she nodded he smiled and said, "We'll have to see if they have any Aer Lingus plane models in Dublin when we're coming back home. You know what that means right?"

"Air fleet," Beckett said with a smile. "I've seen the planes before and have wondered at the name. We should be boarding in a little, are you ready?"

"I am, I got you some magazines," Castle said, handing them to her. "Not for the flight, I know we're sleeping as soon as we eat lunch. But for the drive down the coast."

"That's sweet, but I'm likely going to want to watch the scenery or sleep," Beckett said, taking the magazines and putting them away. She was about to speak again when there was an announcement that the Business class was boarding for their flight, and she and Castle went to get in the short line for it.

Walking into the plane, Castle felt very strange since his ending of _Hamptons Heat_ was about getting onto a plane. But since the circumstances were different he was able to walk with her to the front where they were shown their seats. "I had the window seat last time," he told his wife as he took her carry on. "So you can take it this time."

"Gracious of you," Beckett said teasingly before she got into her seat. She sat back, feeling a little fatigue creep on her and she yawned before she could stop it as Castle sat next to her. "I think I will need the sleep, whether or not I get jet lag," she said as he was looking at her in concern.

"Plus it makes the flight quicker," Castle said, taking one of the magazines he'd bought for her from her. "See, now we can read these," he said as she was looking at the other magazine.

Beckett didn't reply to that, only read an article before she stopped and waited until it looked like her husband had stopped reading a story. "Castle?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he said, looking at her.

"Are you going to let me know the itinerary?" Beckett asked. "Or am I going to be kept in the dark about this?"

"No, thanks for reminding me," Castle said, standing up to go to his carry on. "I have the plans for our trip right… here," he said, almost not able to find the papers at first in the outside pocket. "Okay, here's our book," he told her, handing her the Ireland travel book he'd bought for her. "First, we're staying overnight in Dublin, at the Temple Bar Hotel, where I stayed. It's a nice hotel, good to stay in for a night before you move on. Then tomorrow at eleven we'll fly to Donegal Airport, which is pretty small and we'll get a car there to drive down to Donegal; the city. That's about an hour away… sorry."

"Don't be sorry, I'm assuming we'll have some great views on that drive," Beckett said.

"Oh, it's unbelievable, you'll be taking a lot of pictures; I'll stop for you to do that," Castle promised. "And in Donegal we'll stay at St. Ernan's House, which I won't tell you too much about since I'd love to see you surprised."

Giving him a look though it wasn't that threatening, Beckett couldn't reply since by then the plane was backing away from the gate. She leaned back in her seat as they got to the end of the runway and said, "I'm going to miss her."

"Me too," Castle said quickly. "I just hope she doesn't decide while we're gone that it isn't worth it to call me daddy."

"Rick," Beckett said, smiling and shaking her head. She took his hand and held it as they took off, and once they were in the air said, "I know our daughter, and I can tell when she says she loves you that she really does. She's been waiting for the wedding remember?"

"I do, I think I'm a little worried she's going to say just kidding and go back to calling me Castle," he replied. "But as I hear it more I'm sure that'll go away. So, should we finish with the itinerary?"

"Sure," Beckett said, picking up the paper where Castle had written their stops down. "So we're only staying in Donegal one night?"

"Yeah, there isn't too much there, plus there are other things to go see," Castle told her. "We'll go from there to Sligo; it's about an hour and a half away, slightly longer than that. There's a few things to see, but first; a question. Would you mind seeing abbeys?"

"I'm guessing there's one there?" Beckett asked with a smile. When he nodded she said, "I told you I like the historical part of Ireland, my parents have always reminded me of it, so yes, let's go there."

"Great," Castle said, looking relieved. "Okay, so we're also only going to stay in Sligo that one night too, and move on the next day down to Galway, going on the coast as much as we possibly can."

"And that drive?" Beckett asked.

"About four and a half hours… sticking to the coast," Castle said, waiting for her to protest that.

"Please tell me we're not going to leave Galway the next day," Beckett asked, a little daunted at the thought of spending so much of their trip in the car.

"No, no, we'll stay for a couple days after that one," Castle assured her. "I want to go out to the Aran Islands one day, and the other explore the city if you want to too. Or whatever we decide on."

"Thank you for giving me a chance to have some say. But I don't know if I can have much input, you know Galway don't you?" Beckett asked him.

"Not really, I only passed through, but I thought that would be a good place to explore a little more in depth," Castle told her.

Before they could continue to talk about the trip, lunch was served and Beckett had to wait before she could say, "I'm looking forward to that actually, since as I told you, my grandmother had family there. So where after that?"

"From there we'll visit the Cliffs of Moher, which you have to see they are incredible," Castle told her as he cut some of his chicken. "And then from there we'll head to Adare Manor."

"Which is next to Adare I'm guessing?" Beckett said.

"It is, we'll stay another two days there, because it's pretty nicely situated to some things I want to see if you'd like to," Castle answered.

"What do you want to do," Beckett said with a smile.

"First, something I wasn't able to do; go see the western most part of the country, it's relatively close to the manor," Castle said. When she nodded as she was eating some of her chicken he then said, "Also there's Blarney Castle."

"I was waiting for that to come up," Beckett said with a smile. "But I suppose we should go since we're both of us Irish."

"Couldn't hurt," Castle said. "And I tried to go," he explained as he saw the question on her lips then. "But it was too crowded, so let's hope we can go this time."

"Anything else?" Beckett asked.

"Maybe the town of Limerick?" Castle suggested.

"Let's see how things go in those two days, but I like your first two ideas," Beckett told him. "Okay, after Adare Manor?"

"This is where I don't have things exactly set," Castle confessed. "If you saw on the paper, I have little question marks next to those days after. But what I'd love to do is drive to the Lakes of Killarney to maybe take a quick dip if we could. Head down to the Ring of Kerry and then come back to Kenmare to stay one night. The next day go down to Bantry House, I would like to take you there, remember in the book?" he reminded her.

"I do, I'd like to see it," Beckett assured him. "Then what?"

"Head from there to Skye's house," Castle said simply. When Beckett looked at him in surprise he told her, "She has a summer house her father bought, she gave me the keys before we left. So of course we had to let her come to the beach in front of our house."

"Where is it?" Beckett asked.

"Near Cobh, so we can visit where our ancestors came to America from," Castle said. "And I think we should take a day trip to Waterford, it's only about two hours away. But that's if you'll be up to it," he said, watching her.

"Is that it?" Beckett said, finishing the last of her rice.

"I've left the last few days for the house, to relax from the trip down to it," Castle said. "It's a lot and I just hope you'll be alright during it, when I got everything ready I didn't know you were pregnant."

"I'll manage," Beckett assured him. "And we might have to get some more memory cards for the camera."

"I have some in my case," Castle assured her. "But you're okay with everything?"

"I am, and I'm eager to get there," Beckett said as she was starting her peach flan they'd been given with their meals. "Are we following exactly the way you went?"

"Not exactly, but close. I only found out about Adare Manor through the book I got you," Castle told her. "So let's toast to our honeymoon, and our first foray into Ireland; the land of our ancestors as my mother was telling me; together."

Beckett smiled and tapped her glass of ginger ale against his, remembering their toasts at the wedding. They'd toasted one another; very quickly since their vows had said enough, but their parents and daughters had toasted them. They were all similar, wishing them the best and congratulating them, but Julia's had been very cute, as she'd simply said she was happy that she had a family and that her mother had someone to be in love with. She leaned over then to Castle, pleased when he'd seemed to read her desire, and they kissed gently before going back to their food to finish so they could rest for their two weeks in Ireland.

* * *

"Okay," Castle said as he closed the door after he set down their suitcases. "Like I said, it's not a really fancy hotel, but it's good for a night."

"It is," Beckett said, turning to him. "Did you think I wouldn't like it?"

"I wasn't sure what you thought," Castle told her as she went to her suitcase and set it on one of the armchairs. "Since San Francisco-"

"We were there a while, and this is really nice," Beckett assured him. "Now, I'm changing for dinner, because I'm starving and it's really late here."

"Okay," Castle said as he watched her take something out of her case and disappear into the bathroom. He went to his case, taking out a shirt and jeans to change from the wrinkled clothes he'd slept in on the flight. He wasn't tired, but knew Beckett was right as it was very late. When he finished he looked over at his wife as she came out and said, "You're not going to be cold?" a little surprised as she was wearing a thin sundress in a blue and white pattern.

"I'll be fine, I have a sweater to wear," Beckett replied. "I guess I should have packed a better dress, but I decided to wear this one now." She was going through her case as her sweater had ended up near the bottom, but she soon found it. "So where are we going to eat?"

"I was thinking we can go down to Duke Street; it's where I went last time, and there are some pubs there, we could see if any of them look good," Castle said, taking her hand. They left the hotel, and walked out to get to Westmoreland Street after asking the concierge directions to make sure they wouldn't get lost.

Beckett was looking around at the buildings as they walked saying, "I wish I had brought my camera."

"We can walk this way tomorrow morning and get a cab from here," Castle told her when he noticed the clusters of buildings to their left and then to their right. "That's the Bank of Ireland," he pointed out to her.

Looking at the imposing columned front of the building, Beckett then turned to the buildings to their left asking, "Those?"

"Trinity College," Castle said. "Where your relative went."

"Castle," Beckett said in annoyance though she was only joking. "Samuel Beckett is not my relative. There are probably a lot of Becketts in this country."

"So you say," Castle said, shrugging. When she pushed him, he laughed before he took her hand again and they paused as she stopped walking. "We'll come in the morning," he told her. "If you want to go in we can, it'll be open tomorrow."

"Actually, I was hoping to relax until the last possible moment we need to get out of bed to checkout," Beckett said with a slight smile as his head turned to her swiftly at that. "Come on, I'm starving," she said, tugging his arm. She leaned against him and held onto the upper part of his arm as they came to the part of Grafton Street that was a promenade, blocked off to traffic. "There it is," she said quickly, seeing the street after she tore her gaze from the buildings and shops to see the name of the street.

Walking along the street, the two scanned the pubs, but didn't stop until they reached one called Davy Byrnes. Not wanting to go any further, they got a table outside and Castle ordered them a fish and chips platter.

"One plate?" Beckett asked after the waitress had left.

"It's pretty big," Castle said. Their drinks were delivered and he raised his glass of Guinness saying, " _Sláinte_."

" _Sláinte_ ," Beckett said as she tapped her glass of Cidona against his. "I know what that means," she quickly said, rolling her eyes as her husband looked at her in surprise. "You know what I'd like to do when we get back to Grafton? After we eat of course; see if there's a bookstore, I'd like to buy one for Julia."

"I can ask our waitress when she comes back out," Castle said. "We can also shop a little."

"I think we'll be doing that elsewhere," Beckett said simply. "When we come back here to leave, how is that going to work out?"

"It takes three hours to get from Skye's house to Dublin," Castle explained. "I checked before the wedding. So our flight is pretty early the thirty first, what I did was got us reservations at the same room we're staying in tonight, so we can drive from there to here, stay the night and then just go straight to the airport."

"I hope two weeks is enough to do everything you have on your itinerary," Beckett said.

"It will be, I planned that out," Castle assured her. Their food came and he asked the waitress about the bookstore.

The woman said there was one that stayed open late, and she told them the name and how far away it was on the street, but she spoke so fast and left so quickly Castle and Beckett were a little startled.

"Okay, so she said it was that way right?" Castle asked his wife as he pointed in the direction they'd come.

"It is, but where… I got lost," Beckett said.

"Her accent was a little hard to understand, spoken that fast," Castle assured her. "That'll happen in foreign countries you know, but we know there's one on this street. So, should we eat?"

"I can see now why you ordered just the one, it's a whole fish," Beckett said, shaking her head as she watched her husband cutting the fish in half. She sprinkled vinegar on her half and then began to eat after Castle stared to as well.

For most of the meal, the two were quiet as they were watching the people walking by them and admiring what they could see of the buildings. Eventually they began to talk about their trip the next day, and they added another sight to see in Donegal, the castle that was in the picture in their book.

"So we'll be seeing two castles," Beckett said as they left the pub. "I was getting the feeling we wouldn't the way you were taking us all over."

"While I do want to see them, there is a ton of stuff to visit," Castle commented. "Way too much, so I propose that we come back with Julia and the baby; once it's born; and go around the whole country, as much as we can in a summer."

"We should wait until it's older," Beckett said.

"That's true, that way the baby will be able to appreciate things it sees and knows what it's seeing too," Castle said, nodding in agreement.

"We should also do that with Spain, since that you keep saying will be a family trip," Beckett commented.

"That too, and so you know, the trip back here we can have your dad with us remember," Castle commented.

"I know," Beckett said. She was going to speak when she felt something fall onto her head, and looking up felt that it was rain. "I guess we should have expected this," she said as Castle hurried her to an awning. "Good thing you wore a jacket," she told him as he took it off.

"Come on, we need to get a cab," Castle told her, holding the jacket above them both.

Starting to hurry down to Grafton, Beckett nearly slid when they passed one building and she saw what was in the still lit store. "Here it is," she said, taking his hand and pulling him over to the door.

"Good evening to you both," a woman said, standing at a small counter, watching them come inside. "Have you gotten caught in the rain?"

"In a way," Castle said. "We were looking for this store and it started to rain."

"Well, welcome to Cathatch Books," the woman told them. "Feel free to look around; you're lucky, I was just about to close up."

"Thank you," Beckett said. "I'll look for Julia."

"I'll look in the basement," Castle told her as he'd seen the paper saying there were more books there. He went down the steps and saw some books on history and maps. He then caught sight of a box that was next to a shelf of books apparently on Asia, and started to rummage through them though he knew he probably shouldn't. But he found one book with a deep blue cover that was nearly black. Opening it to the first page, he saw the picture there, and snapping it closed, he headed upstairs.

"These books are really expensive," Beckett whispered when she saw her husband walking up to her.

"I know, they're older books, first editions some of them," Castle commented.

"And you know something else I realized?" Beckett asked him with a smile. When he just looked at her questioningly she said, "I got your book through this store."

"You… _Casino Royale_?" Castle asked in surprise. When she nodded, he said, "Wow, what are the odds? Must be fate that we're here."

"You wanted to come to Duke Street, you've never been here?" Beckett reminded him.

"No, it must have been closed, because I would not forget a store like this," Castle told her. "I'm going to look at the books up front really quickly." He then walked to the woman and said in a low voice, "Can you keep this hidden from her for me?"

"Of course sir," the woman said. "Can I help you with anything else?"

"I'm wondering, is it possible to bring maps up from down in the basement?" Castle asked, getting an idea. When the woman nodded he went back to his wife and told her, "I'll be right back."

"I'll go with you," Beckett said, starting to go with a book before the woman called to her to take it. "It's an Irish Fairy Tale book, different from the one Julia has," she told Castle, flipping it open slightly. "But it's-"

"I'll buy it," he interrupted her. He waited until she had the book on the counter and was following him down the stairs.

"Nice basement," Beckett said, since it was well lit and bright. "So why do you want a map?"

"For our room and maybe one for Julia?" Castle asked.

"Actually, for our office better and Julia has enough on her walls," Beckett said simply.

"What do you think of this one?" Castle said as they looked at the wall where the smaller maps were. When she nodded he went to the table where the unframed maps were and found it in the stack. "You don't want a book?" he asked. "Something by Beckett?"

"He's a little too dark for my tastes," Beckett said with a smile. "But I did see something," she told him. "I would like to buy." Back upstairs, she went to a shelf and pulled down a book. "My dad does like his works, and this is signed," she told him, showing him the inside of the copy of _Company_.

"Okay, then let's get these and go," Castle said.

"And you don't want a book?" Beckett asked him with a smile.

"I'm good," Castle replied before he took the book and went to the register, handing it and the map to the woman.

While she waited, Beckett went to the front shelves of the store, looking at a copy of _Dubliners_ until she felt her husband's hand on her back. "Are we going to call a cab?" she asked as he showed her the bag that was in another bag to protect the books from the rain.

"We should, it's a long walk back to the hotel," Castle said. They both said goodnight to the woman, and then stepped outside, surprised to see that at some point the rain had stopped. He held Beckett close to his side as she wrapped her hand around his upper arm, and they hurried back to the hotel before the rain could start up again. Inside their room he watched her set her sweater on the back of an armchair before she took the bag with two of the three books they'd gotten and their map.

"Julia should love this," Beckett said, not realizing that he was opening the book he'd found in the basement. "The pictures are beautiful, but too bad there aren't more of them…" She set the book back into the bag before packing it into his suitcase since he had more room. She was startled when all of a sudden he swore in shock, and she turned to him.

"Kate, come look at this," Castle said, holding up the book in his hands.

"Why didn't you tell me you got… a book," Beckett started to say before trailing off and then speaking again, her eyes wide. "That can't be possible… is that Shiva and Parvati?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I didn't see this when I found it in the store," Castle said as they studied the deities in the drawing laying naked together next to a pond. "Should I be jealous?" he asked his wife, watching her.

"Not really, not sure how that's supposed to fit in a woman," Beckett said, shaking her head at the size of the god. "By that I mean a mortal woman, for her I'm sure it's no problem. But what is this book?"

"The _Kama Sutra_ ," Castle said, turning the first few pages to come to the first position, which wasn't a position but a kind of foreplay. "So is this better?"

"Much," Beckett said as she watched him flip through the pages and she saw the positions were all drawings and not photographs. She tilted her head when he stopped at one and said, "Not sure why you'd want to be like that… making a table apparently."

"I can see my back breaking so easily with that one," Castle said with a slight laugh. "What about this one?" he asked, showing her one with Shiva on his knees, Parvati above him with his head on her breasts.

"That's nice, but there are a lot of positions here," Beckett said, seeing how thick the book was then since that position was closer to the end of the book. "We can go through them starting tomorrow; tonight we'll use what we know."

"Come on love," Castle said as she took the book from him. "One more?"

"At random," Beckett said after she paused in saying no and looked at him for a moment. When he nodded she smiled and opened the book somewhere towards the beginning, glancing at it and then blushing slightly as her husband hurried to get up to see.

"So," Castle said, looking at her after he saw the position. "Let me get this into my suitcase…"

Beckett was a little startled at his reaction, but she smiled as he took her hand and pulled her to the couch once the book was in his suitcase. "Are you tired?" she asked.

"Not in the least," Castle told her as he wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her close against his side. "Are you?"

"Not really," Beckett said, smiling as he leaned down to her. She took his kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and felt both of his around her waist. She ran her tongue over his lower lip and looked at him when he pulled back. "What-" she started to say before his lips nearly crushed hers. She held onto him roughly as his tongue slipped past her lips, and she was clutching at him before he pulled her onto his lap.

Running his hands over the small of her back, Castle took the chance when they needed to breathe to trail his parted lips down the side of her neck. At her shudder he moved back up to her lips, and brushed his against them a few times, teasing her blatantly before she cupped his cheeks in her hands and pulled him to her. That time they were frantic, hands clutching and grabbing at one another until they broke apart yet again to breathe.

"I'm surprised," Beckett said, panting a little as she pressed her forehead against his. "You didn't just throw me on the bed."

"This time I'll make sure you want me," Castle said simply before he was kissing her again. At that point he became a little lost at how many times they would do that, kiss, pull away and then kiss again. In between they would touch one another, and he allowed himself to slide his hand underneath the skirt of her dress, running it back and forth along her thigh.

The second time that Castle did that, Beckett smiled a little and murmured, "I'm surprised now you don't take the dress off." She nearly laughed when he looked at her with wide eyes, and said, "To get it out of the way."

"Well, it is in the way, I'll agree, but…" Castle said before he took the thin straps at her shoulders, pulling them down so just the tops of her breasts were revealed. His lips brushed against the skin there, feeling her tremble under him before he tilted his head up to her. When she kissed him he was quick to reach up again, pulling the dress down further, all the way down to her waist after he'd unzipped it in the back.

Moaning as her nipples brushed against his shirt, Beckett broke off that kiss and watched as he brought his hands up to cup her breasts. She breathed out a sigh as he fondled her very carefully and then stroked the back of his head as he lowered it to brush his lips against her mounds. "Oh… god… love, _please_ ," she begged, finally reaching her limit.

Hearing her tone on the last word, Castle finally picked her up in his arms, taking her to the bed saying, "I didn't carry you over a threshold, but this still counts."

Shaking her head as she grabbed a pillow, Beckett raised her hips as Castle removed her clothes, shivering at the brush of his lips over her right thigh once it was exposed. Naked, she sat up and helped him in a rush to get his clothes off, smiling as he kissed her quickly, since they had to really pay attention to the buttons lest they pop them all off in their haste. But finally she lay back again, and watched him discard the rest of what was covering him before he came to her. "How?" she asked him.

Castle didn't reply, instead he kissed her deeply, sensuously before he started to trail down her body slowly. He felt the heat of her, her skin silky smooth to his touch and making him feel as if he were going to lose it before they could even get started. But he made it between her legs, and there he gently kissed her sex, around it and finally went to her clit. Taking it between his lips he rubbed his tongue over the swollen nub, amazing at how aroused she was before he held her around her thighs and then proceeded to pleasure her with his hand as his mouth slid down hurriedly; unable to go slowly.

Crying out in response to her husband's mouth and fingers working all over her it felt like, Beckett wasn't too surprised when he wasn't stopping, though she was feeling herself getting too close to her orgasm. Finally she had to stop him, as the touch of his fingers; the slow, steady strokes of his tongue inside of her were too much to take. She was relieved when he pulled away at her touch and she said, "I can't wait."

"You know," Castle panted as she pulled him to her. "A long time ago this would make the marriage-" But that was all he could say as Beckett crushed his lips with hers as they worked together, slipping his erection inside of her.

"Make it legal," Beckett replied when they had parted, breathing hard along with him. "It's not necessary, but this is the last thing we would need back then," she told him as she'd already been aware of what he was going to say bringing that up. "And we need this now, I agree. Take me Rick, now," she begged him.

Moving to slide in her fully, Castle shuddered as he could feel how much he'd aroused her, not just by pleasuring her he knew. He took her right leg and placed the ankle on his shoulder, the other leg went around his waist, high up. He knew she didn't want to use the same position every time they were together, but he couldn't help using that one for their first time to consummate the marriage, as he knew it was going to really please her and not just him. That done, he proceeded to move and he breathed out heavily at his first thrust, Beckett gasping out and moving against him a little before he moved back. He soon had a rhythm set up after that, feeling her working to get even with him as he leaned down, kissing her deeply.

Beckett was suddenly grateful to herself that she'd stopped him from completing his pleasuring of her, enjoying him inside of her far better. But she thought of that book suddenly as she looked at what she could see of her legs around him. She bit her lower lip and moaned saying, "That book… we need to use…" When she felt him nod before kissing her again, she slid her hands from his shoulders to the back of his head, caressing his hair as she felt everything that he was doing to her seem to intensify. She moaned into his mouth before his tongue was flicking against hers, and she was lost in trying to carefully duel against him before they pulled apart for a quick breath. "Here…" she told him in a whisper, suddenly taking his right hand. As she made him palm her left breast, she closed her eyes tightly as the jolt of energy from that simple touch raced to where they were coupled together. She felt him move, and looked in time to see him bending a little to reach the mound.

Castle was never able to really figure out when they came to the agreement that they'd been in that position long enough. All he knew was that he was aware of Beckett's desire to move that coincided with his own. He moved them so he was sitting up with her, and as soon as he was set and moving again with her he went down to her breasts as his hands spanned the small of her back. Feeling her fingers raking over his scalp made him shudder as he was careful at first suckling at her nipple. When he felt how hard she was sliding her nails against him, he was a little harder, and groaned when she grabbed at his hair hard, not because it hurt, but because it was a little erotic. He moved to her other breast, repeating the same action, and sensing the electricity in the feel of her, the taste of her skin and how rigid her nipple was shot straight down to his member. He pulled away for air, and suddenly had an urge to just watch her. So after a kiss that he let linger for as long as he dared, he lay back down and held her around the small of her back still, eyes going up and down her form.

Beckett already had an idea of what he wanted as he'd moved, and she got an idea of her own, wanting to push him closer to the edge since she was nearly there herself. So she reached down and began to touch her own clit with her fingers, rubbing it carefully as Castle hissed slightly in reaction. She was also touching him, and she knew the brief contact was affecting him, feeling the way he moved her, gripping her skin. She then forgot a little about him, as she moved her fingers harder on herself, rocking faster though she was dimly aware of her husband stopping her from starting to fuck him. Her climax was almost abrupt though she'd been looking for it, and she arched her back, realizing what he was doing as he held her.

Castle was a little unsure of how merely stopping could keep him from going over the edge as watching Beckett lose her self-control and cry his name twice in an erotic tone of voice brought him close, loving the way she tried to take his climax into her though he wasn't with her in that yet. He was breathing hard when she stopped, controlling himself almost becoming an issue. But he was just able to do it and as soon as she'd calmed down he was turning her onto her back, withdrawing from her. He wondered if she was aware he hadn't been with her at her orgasm, but didn't bother to ask, instead he moved to her sex, pressing a kiss to her clit.

Feeling that, Beckett's eyes flew open and she looked down at Castle, surprised when he laid his cheek against her mound, not moving and not doing anything. It was then she realized that he hadn't reached his peak, and she wondered what exactly he was trying to do. "Rick-" she started to say.

"Shh, I'll take care of you," Castle said calmly before he moved down to her swollen nub again. He heard her surprised cry as he surrounded her clit with his lips again, doing the same thing he'd done before they'd been making love. He did that for nearly a minute, with Beckett trying to stop him; luckily not because she was still hypersensitive but because she was beginning to get aroused again. He felt at the end of that almost minute that he could move, and he slid back inside of her after tucking a pillow beneath her hips. He breathed out hard at the feel of her, and he thrust again immediately, feeling her responding quickly to him, matching his pace. The pleasure was instant in his body, and more intense than it had been when he'd stopped. He knew then that he was unlikely to last long enough to get off with her, so he proceeded to try and help her get there faster.

When she felt Castle almost thrust hard and then seem to hesitate before pulling back, Beckett knew what he was trying to do, so she quickly pulled him down to her lips since her arms were around his neck. She kissed him sensuously and when they had pulled apart told him, "Fuck me Rick." He didn't pause to check and make sure, instead immediately began forceful, deep thrusts that had him almost pounding into her. She hurried to match him, and was able to find their rhythm together before too long had passed for her, feeling her body reacting readily; especially between her legs where the friction was becoming rough and hot. She had wrapped her legs around his waist, and she then slid the left up towards his arm before she whispered his name and while he watched, raised her arms above her head.

Swallowing hard as his mouth was suddenly wet, Castle didn't waste too much time in the obvious invitation she was giving him, and hurried down to her breasts. He kissed around them first, the slight jump of her body every time he did that making him jerk a little unsteadily against her. But soon he was taking her nipple into his mouth, sucking it and feeling her arching her chest towards him. He groaned as her whole body was actually trying to do the same, and he was deep within her with that, feeling her heat, the roughness of her sex tight around him as he quickly moved to her other mound. He felt Beckett moving harder against him as he sped up his own pace, and he moved to her lips, kissing her hungrily.

Running her nails over his shoulders, feeling the way he was literally straining against her, Beckett fought with his tongue, their heads tilting back and forth as their kiss matched the pace of their bodies. When they were ripped apart by their need to breathe she moaned a few times and cried, "Love… please… I'm going to come," not sure how he'd been that good at getting her right to the edge so quickly but not wanting to question it.

"Kate, I know I… you're too good… love…" Castle nearly babbled as he finally was there, that moment he'd been asserting to her was his soul jumping out of his body to find hers. It happened for his wife at the same time, and he groaned his name against her neck as she was moaning his name loudly over and over. Their orgasms were rough and he could feel the way she was clinging to him as he continued to ram into her unabated. But finally things became too much for him to continue, and he slowed down, though not before he thrust roughly a few more times and then almost collapsed against her. He remembered the baby suddenly, and nearly moved off of her, though he knew that she didn't like him doing that when there was no way he could hurt the baby.

"So, according to history we're married now, completely," Beckett teased him, kissing his temple and then his ear that she could reach.

"Yep, pretty securely married too, with what we just did," Castle commented, feeling like he could speak then. "That was pretty amazing."

"It still surprises me," Beckett started to say before he moved, sighing as he pulled away from her and then went to get a bottle of water for them on the table across from the bed. "That you stop yourself from coming. That doesn't hurt?"

"The first time I did that it did," Castle said, handing her the glass. "Sorry I didn't get ice."

"I'll survive," Beckett said with a shrug before she took a few sips. "I remember that time, you scared me, I thought I'd turned you off somehow."

"You've looked at yourself naked right?" Castle asked. "Then you shouldn't think that."

"And when I'm in my last trimester?" Beckett asked, handing him the glass back.

"Oh, don't start," Castle said, sipping the liquid. "You realize I'm eager to see you showing right? You remember I'm around here as much as I can be," touching her abdomen.

"So are you around it for my stomach or our baby?" Beckett joked as he set the glass down on the nightstand.

"Probably for the baby," Castle said, pretending to be serious. He then grinned as she shook her head, and he leaned over, kissing her tenderly before doing the same to her abdomen. "You looked beautiful today," he told her seriously as he sat back up.

"And you were dashing yourself, downright sexy," Beckett replied. "Don't, don't get cocky, I beg you Rick," she then said, putting her hand on his chest.

"Aw come on, I want to be though," Castle said. He was surprised when she looked down then and said, "Uh… that kiss?" thinking he needed to explain his erection that had begun.

"I'm not asking for a reason, as long as I caused it," Beckett said simply.

"It was, definitely was love," Castle said. He leaned over and kissed her again, for a little longer and deeper than the other kiss, feeling a thrill go through him as he could feel her trying to get closer to him. He pulled away to get onto the bed, putting her on his lap as they'd been on the couch before they were kissing each other hungrily.

Beckett had no idea how long it took her and her husband to stop, only a few seconds would pass as they sucked in breaths of air and then came back together again. When they finally kept away long enough for her to, she told him, looking deeply into his blue eyes, "I love you Rick," running her hand along his cheek.

"I love you too Kate," Castle told her. He followed her as she lay down, and nestled between her thighs as he breathed against her lips, "Always."

"Always love," Beckett replied, bringing him down to her for a kiss.

It took little encouragement for Castle and Beckett to make love again, that time continuing slowly, deliberately throughout the entire time so they could feel one another easily. They kissed often and deeply, feeling a little as if they were cementing their vows, their promise to each other that that word; always; wasn't just an idle utterance. And they both knew that their vows were their reality now they were husband and wife and what they were sharing together with the utmost ecstasy as they drove one another to pleasure while they continued to celebrate their wedding night.


	18. The Sun Sets On Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine, from the 1993 Paul McCartney Collection edition of the Wings album London Town.

Watching as Castle slipped back into the bed with her, Beckett couldn't help say, "I'm surprised you didn't get something to drink along with breakfast."

"Well, I got half of it at least," Castle said simply. He leaded over and kissed her, tasting the honey that was over their strawberries on her lips. He deepened that kiss, before having to pull away. "So, do you still want to head down to see the college before we go?" he made himself ask.

"I do," Beckett said with a smile as she knew why he was suddenly talking. She reached into the bowl where their breakfast was, and dipped her finger into the honey that had collected to the bottom saying, "Any reason why you got honey and not cream?"

"I went with a slightly safer choice, I don't know if you like cream," Castle said simply, his eyes never straying from her fingertip even as it disappeared past her lips.

"That's true, but, I would like to try it," Beckett told him, handing him the bowl.

"You've never had it?" Castle asked, finally turning his attention to his wife.

"I've never had a chance, when I was in London it was only for a layover, that was very short," Beckett said simply.

"Okay, so we'll try that soon," Castle said before he looked down at what was left of their meal. He set the bowl back on the nightstand, taking one more strawberry out before he went to her, and set the fruit to her lips.

When he pulled it away from her before she could take a bite, Beckett wasn't all that surprised when he trailed it over her skin until he had reached her breasts. She waited for him to continue; a little breathless as they hadn't done that since before Queens. She wasn't sure why they hadn't brought that back into their love life, but was relieved they were going back to something they had done before. She breathed in deeply as he carefully ran the honey that was almost dripping from the strawberry over her right breast, covering her nipple in it.

Watching her and seeing her anticipation in her eyes, Castle breathed out and quickly gave her the strawberry; letting her take a bite before he took the rest. Once it was finished, he hurriedly bowed his head, and began to slowly lap at her nipple, feeling her instant reaction as she grabbed the back of his head. The honey was quickly gone, so he was left with her skin, which didn't disappoint him in the slightest as he proceeded to suckle at her. He felt her nails raking through his hair, and he shuddered slightly as he moved to her other breast, her grip a little tight on him as he did the same to her other.

Looking on, Beckett suddenly made him stop, breathing heavily as he pulled back before he was kissing her, and roughly. She responded to him as best she could, plunging her tongue into his mouth before he was ushering her inside of her own. They dueled a little playfully before they were apart once more, panting for air. "So… we need to keep doing that," she told him.

"Definitely," Castle said before he kissed her firmly but briefly. He then went hurriedly back to the bowl and brought it with him as he lay on top of her. "Do you want to…?" he started to ask.

Shaking her head, Beckett looked on as he dipped his first two fingertips into the honey, and was sliding them down her mound. She moaned slightly as the liquid was cool to her skin, and she bit her lower lip as he did the same action again instead of going down to clean her off. But that time he slid his fingers over her clit, and she clenched her teeth at the rush of what felt like fire over her entire body. She waited impatiently as he set aside the bowl, and then went to her mound, lapping the honey away from there first. It wasn't thick on her skin, so she was soon feeling the roughness of his tongue against her, and the sensation was making her tremble heavily in response.

When Castle reached her clit, he took his time even more there, flicking out his tongue, waiting for a beat of a different amount of seconds, and then licking again. Each time his tongue was on her, his wife was crying out softly as she wasn't able to guess when it was going to be on her again. He finally got all the honey out of the way, and was going to get settled into pleasuring her orally as he hadn't had the chance to the day before, but she was stopping him yet again.

"Not like that," Beckett said as she sat up. She smiled as his eyes went to her hair as she shook it behind her shoulders and she put her fingers under his chin, tilting his head towards her so they were looking at each other. "So no regrets after yesterday?" she asked teasingly once she knew she had his attention.

"Oh no," Castle said, knowing she was joking. "Not a single one," he said under his breath before brushing his lips against hers. He was going to kiss her harder, when she suddenly moved away from him. "Wait," he said, seeing her grabbing the bowl.

"One more left," Beckett said, picking up the very last strawberry inside and showing him the honey glistening on it. She smiled as he tried to grab it, but she slapped his hand away and brought the fruit down to his erection, rubbing it slowly around as he went rigid in front of her.

"Love," Castle managed to gasp out as he could feel the honey coating the very tip of him. She luckily pulled away then, and he watched her bite the berry before handing him the other half which he quickly ate.

While he was doing that, Beckett was quick to descend to his groin, taking him in her mouth to lick the honey off of him, hoping he wasn't going to choke on the fruit as she ran her tongue in long, firm strokes. She was lucky when he didn't, but he was soon grabbing her, pulling her away. "You don't want-" she started to say.

"Yeah, not like that," Castle said, breathing roughly. "Like this." And with that he made her lay down on her side before he turned so he was upside down on his own side. He parted her legs as she took him back inside her mouth, hissing against her sex in response to that, and he began to pleasure her quickly as he felt her not wasting her time in starting on him.

For a short time; since their little foreplay had aroused them both immensely; Castle and Beckett worked one another up to the heights of their pleasure, until she was the first to break.

Lying on her back as her husband had just managed to get her there before she lost it, Beckett put her hands above her head as he put her legs back over his shoulders and his mouth was in exactly the right place. Right where she was aching for him, his tongue deep in her as his fingers started to fondle her clit furiously. It didn't take much time for him to get her off, as she put her arms down as her hands clutched the sheet under her, moaning her husband's name repeatedly until the roaring in her ears ceased, and she felt her body stopping its self initiated fire at her ecstasy.

Castle was watching her recover, a little unsure of what to do, as he'd been right at the edge himself when he'd moved them around. But a second later, he was pushed onto his back by his wife, startled enough to not try to stop her, and he watched as she took him in her hands. "You-" he said, wondering if she was going to try and delay things.

Beckett could almost feel the confusion in her husband at what she was doing, while she just held him, and she took that as her cue to move. She lowered her head, taking him once again into her mouth, and began bobbing her head slowly back and forth, touching what she could of his skin; where she knew was a pleasure point on him. His slight jerk of his body in reaction to her spurred her on, and she moved slower than she had been, waiting.

When Castle couldn't take it anymore, he lost the last shred of self-control in him, and he felt the pleasure from his orgasm slamming into him repeatedly, making his heart pound in his chest, his breathing rough as he was groaning Beckett's name. He was a little unsure as to how long he was like that, lost in the feeling of being aware of his wife around him before he came back to himself. "Love," he said, wrapping his arms around her as she moved to lay down with him. He kissed her deeply, pleased when she responded before they pressed their foreheads together.

"So I guess we did come for this, despite our protests," Beckett said with a smile.

"Yeah, but we can balance being tourists with our lovemaking, I guarantee it," Castle said.

"Really, I don't think so," Beckett said, moving to lie on her back then with a smile on her face.

Going to her and laying on top of her, Castle kissed her before playfully nipping at her neck to her laugh. He went to her collarbone and nibbled along the bone before he went to her lips, "I'll show you," he whispered, feeling her legs parting for him. Before he could move to enter her, he was jolted at the sudden sound of his alarm on his phone he'd set and he groaned heavily into her shoulder as he slumped against it.

"You can show me later," Beckett said with a smile at his reaction. "Come on, we should go."

Sitting up as she got up off the bed, Castle watched her grab her clothes and said, "You really want to go don't you?"

"I do, your sneak peek of where we're going has intrigued me, I want to see if I'll be amazed by everything as you seem to think I will be," Beckett said with a smile, going back to the bed and getting dressed in front of him. Dressed in just her bra and panties, she smiled as her husband slid over to her to press a kiss to her abdomen. "Go, we've got a lot to do you know. And tonight…" she told him.

"I'm holding you to that Kate," Castle said, standing and then leaning down to kiss her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as they let themselves get lost in one another for just a little longer.

* * *

Stepping out of the car, Beckett looked out at the view and watched as Castle walked to her saying, "It's still a pretty view."

"Yeah, I really wish we could get close to the water though," he told her as she took a few pictures. "But you're enjoying it so far."

"I am," Beckett said, since they were just past the town of Oughtmeen on their way to Donegal. "And you?"

"It's why I wanted to come back, since I like it here," Castle said, watching her closely.

Looking from the screen of their camera, Beckett said, "Something on my face from lunch?"  
"No, no, just wondering why you won't do more photography," Castle commented as she joined him in leaning against the car. "You're good."

"I might have more of a chance to now," Beckett said. "But that depends how our writing goes."

"You're still unsure," Castle stated.

"Very, but," Beckett said quickly. "I'll probably do better once I know what we're writing about," she told him pointedly since he still refused to talk about their so called book.

"Well, if you want to know that badly, we should get going love," Castle said. Back in the car, he drove down the rest of the way to the city, though he did stop a few more times for his wife to take pictures. Once at Donegal, he went through the city, pointing out the castle before he took them on a road outside it.

"All the way out here?" Beckett asked in amusement. "Good thing you have experience driving already," she told him.

"I know, you want to take the wheel at all?" Castle asked her.

"I'd love to try," Beckett said, seeing they were going past a row of homes. She looked to her left and saw Donegal Bay along with small islands close by. "This is beautiful," she said. "Imagine living here."

"I know, but we are staying," Castle told her, watching her when he could as he loved seeing the expression on her face as she looked at the views. "And we're staying out here," he commented as he drove over a causeway. "Kind of like our own private island," he said as they approached a pink home.

"That's it?" Beckett said with a smile, quickly taking a picture. She looked at Castle and when she saw his briefly concerned look quickly told him, "Don't worry, it's quaint, I just wasn't expecting pink."

"I know, I wasn't either when I found this place," Castle told her with a slight chuckle. "But it's secluded and it should be pretty nice… do you want to stay longer?"

"Actually," Beckett began as he drove up to the house to park. "In the future, on that summer trip we make here, we could let the kids stay with our parents; if your mom comes; and spend a couple days here on our own."

"Great," Castle was able to say before they got out and got their things. He checked them in; surprised when the concierge remembered him as he'd stayed more than six years ago by then. But when the man asked about a new book, he realized why and wasn't surprised to see his wife smiling at him.

"You've recently married?" the man asked, nodding to Beckett.

"Yesterday," she replied.

"Ah, congratulations to you both," the concierge told them with a quick nod. "You'll be in the same room as you had last Mr. Castle. I'm sure you'll enjoy our hotel Mrs. Castle."

"It's actually Beckett," Castle corrected. "She preferred to keep her name, more Irish than mine."

Hitting his side with the back of her hand, Beckett was surprised when the concierge laughed at that.

"Well then I hope you'll enjoy it Ms. Beckett," the man told them. "Enjoy your stay and please inform me if there should be any problems."

"Any reason why you said that?" Beckett asked as they went to the stairs.

"Just because I wanted to point out you're Irish," Castle said. "Plus when our first book is published he'll realize he's met you."

Beckett shook her head at that and replied, "Assuming that happens."

Castle didn't respond to that, instead opening the door to their room, stepping aside for her to go inside first. "I stayed in this one last time."

Looking around, Beckett said as she turned to him, "If you're worried about me liking this one, don't."

"Check out the view," Castle said, nodding to the window.

Going over to it, Beckett could see why he'd said that, taking in the vista of the mainland, the land itself very green with the water in front of it. "I definitely like this room."

"Okay, so do you want to unpack or anything?" Castle asked, watching her remain at the window with a smile since he'd done the same thing himself when he'd been there.

"I have one thing; you said dinner tonight's dressy?" Beckett said, tearing herself away then from the view. At his nod she went to her suitcase he'd set on the bed and took out a dress, hanging it up. "That's it."

"Then let's go," Castle replied quickly, reaching over to her to take her hand.

Grabbing her bag she'd brought with them to carry their camera, Beckett went over to him and said, "Do you know how to get around here?"

"I do, but I won't hesitate to ask for directions if that's what you're trying to suggest," Castle said.

Beckett didn't say anything to that, just smiled before they went out to the car, nodding to the concierge as they did so. She looked at their Ireland book as they went and said, "Apparently they wrote part of a book there at this abbey about the history of the Gaelic people?"

"Yeah, I had found that out before I went the first time," Castle said as he found a parking space. "Okay, here we are," he told her.

Beckett didn't say anything as they got out and walked towards the ruins she could see in the distance, waiting until they were actually at them to say, "The monks had an amazing view."

"I know, it's a shame they just abandoned it," Castle said, squeezing her hand slightly. He took her down past tombstones and some of the ruins before coming to the wall in front of a short drop to the water. "This is where I was standing," he told her as they looked out at the bay. "Watching the current when I realized that I was really going nowhere with my writing, especially since I'd killed off Derek Storm. So I decided I was just going to let inspiration strike me, or slap me in the face, whatever."

Beckett couldn't help smiling at how nonchalant he tried to sound and she turned to him saying, "But you had nothing in mind about what you wanted to write yet."

"No, I really had no idea who Nikki Heat was until I met you," Castle said. "But I brought you here not so much to reminisce about what happened to me, but to discuss what's going to happen with us; our writing."

Still feeling weird at that phrase, Beckett said, "Okay, then first off, do you have anything in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking a man and a woman, but," Castle said, holding his finger up before she could reply to that. "They'll both be with the NYPD."

"Homicide again?" Beckett asked.

"Well, since we can't really write them in the FBI and I don't have the inclination to do so, sure," Castle said with a shrug. "But we'd need to keep them separate from Rook and Heat as much as possible."

"First off don't have them sleep together the first book," Beckett said.

"Oh, don't act like that didn't pique your interest," Castle said.

"Maybe my fantasies, but that's about as close as you came to me at the time," Beckett easily replied.

" _Touché_ ," Castle commented. "Okay, then they'll know each other from childhood and-"

"That far back?" Beckett said in surprise.

"Sure, and I'm going to let you decide if they'll get together, and if they do, when," Castle told her. He was surprised when she let go of his hand then, and walked a little away from him. "What?"

"They can, but, we'll wait until the third book if we go that far," Beckett said. "And I'll be helping you with love scenes."

"Oh good, I thought I was going to need to research that on my own," Castle said. "So what would you like her to be called?"

"We can decide later," Beckett said. "But let's lay off the words as last names."

"Aw come on, it makes it fun," Castle pretended to whine.

Studying him, Beckett finally said, "Then call her Georgiana Blue."

"Georgiana?" Castle asked.

"First name that came to me," Beckett said with a shrug.

"No, I like that, could have the guy call her Georgie to annoy her, have her not like it," Castle suggested.

"And when he doesn't want to later on?" Beckett asked with a smile.

"Anna," Castle said simply.

"And your character?" Beckett said with a nod in agreement. "Oh come on, you didn't think I wouldn't realize that this would be you and I?"

"Okay, I was thinking Paul for the first name, which means Julia's influencing our writing with her music," Castle said as Beckett smiled at that. "And the last name… Moor."

"So Blue and Moor?" Beckett asked.

"Maybe it should be Georgiana Green?" Castle suggested.

"That sounds better, but say Moor and Green, Green and Moor isn't quite as catchy," Beckett replied.

"You're my publisher it looks like," Castle said, reaching out to her and taking her hand. "I want to have the plot with Skye's character in the first one," he told her.

"I know, I had a feeling since you've been talking about planes lately," Beckett said with a smile. She kissed her husband gently and said, "Let's walk around and get some pictures."

"First…" Castle said, taking his phone out of his pocket and turning away from the water with her. There he stopped and with that in the background took a selfie with her, making sure only the water was visible. "Sending that to Alexis… okay, let's go," he said before they started to walk down the path.

"There's not much to see," Beckett commented. "I saw in the book," she told him as it was pretty obvious there wasn't.

"It's still very…" Castle started to say before trailing off.

"Gothic?" Beckett suggested.

"That and you can feel the history here," Castle pointed out as they passed a gravestone that was from the 1700s.

"Wait," Beckett said, going to that stone. "1730… didn't the book say this was abandoned in the 1600s?"

"They kept using the cemetery," Castle said.

"Here's one from 1745," Beckett said as they came to the next stone. "I guess they used another church." She then looked at view and said, "But what a place to be buried at."

"See? There might be spirits here, wanting to partake of this view," Castle told her. When she gave him a look he said, "I would."

Beckett shook her head as they walked around the ruins of the cloisters and she studied the stones saying, "I wonder why they abandoned it."

"I never heard," Castle said quickly when she looked at him. "I never took a tour here, did you want to?"

"No, I prefer looking around on our own," Beckett commented. She smiled as she said, "There's a part of me that isn't too surprised this was where you decided to change things up with your writing."

"There's something calming about it," Castle suggested, pleased when she nodded as it meant she could feel that too. "I stayed here for a while, walking around until I headed into town."

"So what did you do when you were here besides that?" Beckett asked.

"There was a pub where they played cards upstairs," Castle said. "I spent most of my time there after this place as there wasn't much else to do. Eventually they kicked me out since I was winning too much."

"Not surprising," Beckett said as they came back to where they'd come in.

"Enough pictures?" Castle inquired as she'd been taking them all during their walk.

"Yeah, do you want to head into the city?" Beckett asked.

Before Castle could answer that though his phone rang briefly, letting him know he had a text. Taking it out of his pocket, he smiled when he went over to some shade from a tree and showed his wife the picture his daughter had sent him.

"A lot of kids," Beckett laughed softly when she saw Julia was with Skye and Mary's twins, Mari and also Celia since her parents were remaining in the Hamptons until Saturday. "I hope their parents are there too."

"I'm sure," Castle said. "Alexis just said they'll talk to us tonight. But about that, I think we should call them at five their time, since it'll be ten here."

"I forgot about it being five hours, I was thinking of Alexis in California," Beckett said. "I hope someone is around their phone then."

"Alexis will be," Castle said, nodding to the picture. He opened the passenger door for his wife; since he'd forgotten he was driving on the other side and told her, "I know, I forgot that," in mock exasperation as she just smirked at him. Inside the car, he headed for the diamond, the market square in the city, luckily finding parking though there were a lot of people around. "Okay, shopping we'll have to explore on our own," he told her as they stepped onto the sidewalk in front of a souvenir store. "I didn't do much of that, except going to this one," he explained.

"How long do we have?" Beckett asked. "I saw a bookstore and I'm hoping they're slightly cheaper than last night."

"Where?" Castle asked, looking around them.

"I just saw it quickly, we'll ask where inside," Beckett said, taking his hand and pulling him to the store.

Castle let her go ahead of him as he went over to some postcards, trying to see if there were any pictures that he could find for their room. He soon found one, a copy of a pen sketch of the abbey as it appeared in 1880, and he took it to show Beckett before he went to look at the walking canes, since he'd remembered her dad had asked them to try to find one for him in the week before the wedding.

"Hey, what'd you find?" Beckett asked when he approached her.

"Thought you might like this for our room, somewhere," Castle told her.

Smiling at that Beckett said, "A memento of the trip?"

"Actually, I had in mind something else, but yeah, that'll work out as that too," Castle replied. "I'll explain," he said quickly when she looked at him.

"You never told me how long until we need to head back to change for dinner," Beckett told him as he took what she was holding under her arm out. "Yes it's for our daughter," she said as he held up the skirt in mohair. "I thought that would be good for Thanksgiving."

"She'll love it," Castle said a little quickly. "Come here," he told her, leading her over to the blankets. "What do you think?" he asked, taking down a blue and green plaid mohair blanket.

"Perfect. And they have baby blankets…" Beckett began before she leaned down to grab a smaller one of the same kind, though it was a grey plaid. "We should at least start," she told him as he looked a little surprised.

"That's true," Castle said, smiling slightly. "We have to think of the nursery now."

"I know, I'm thinking just a sky theme," Beckett told him. "Because you can go easy on theming there."

"You don't want to go all out?" Castle asked knowingly, smiling a little wider.

"Not particularly. But I don't want it to be just another bedroom," Beckett said.

"We can look into that back at home, but this blanket is good," Castle said before he went over to the clothing where she'd gotten Julia's skirt. "What about this?" he asked, holding up a green onesie with a four leaf clover on it. He watched his wife study it and asked knowingly, "It's still hard to believe sometimes."

"I know, I tell myself that my body is like this for a reason… but since I'm so early in the pregnancy it's hard to remember sometimes that I am," Beckett said. She then looked up at him and said, "But I do like this, since it's unisex and also not too disturbingly cute."

"Knew you'd say that," Castle said with a short laugh before they walked around the rest of the store together.

After picking out blankets for their daughters as well, Beckett looked through the postcards that Castle had glanced at while he was paying. But her gaze went outside and to Donegal Castle which she could see, and she smiled at the view, since it was almost the same picture as in their travel book for the city. She felt her husband's hand on her back then, and she turned to him, taking his arm as she let him lead her outside back to the shops around the diamond, leaning against him as they went.

* * *

Walking around the bookstore they'd finally made it to, Castle looked at the books that were near him, a little creeped out at how quiet it was in the store. "You think we should have gone out for tea?" he asked his wife once he reached her at the children's books.

"There are other people here," Beckett said, knowing why he'd said that. "You haven't found anything?"

"Not really, but you know what, I like this place," Castle said.

Smiling as she was looking at a cover of a book, Beckett said, not looking at him, "How many of your books do they have?"

"All of them," Castle whispered. He raised and lowered his eyebrows a few times when she looked at him at that, and he returned her smile. "So, for Julia?" he asked, nodding to the book in her hands.

"The baby, but I'm sure Julia will want to see it," Beckett replied, showing him the cover which was a picture of somewhere in the country by the sea.

Nodding at the Ireland alphabet book, Castle said, "Are you going to look?"

"At your books?" Beckett queried, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

"Well, you'll pass by them," Castle told her as he followed her to the mystery section. "But I saw one book I haven't seen back at home; I want you to see it."

Watching him looking for the book, Beckett bit her lower lip for a moment at how eager his tone of voice had been. She took the book he handed her, reading the summary as she felt him standing close to her, and when she had managed to somewhat look over the text, she glanced up at her husband, seeing something in his eyes had changed. Though someone could come up to them from around the corner, she took his lips as he came down to her, eyes closing tightly as she wrapped her arms around him forcefully.

Castle was a little annoyed at himself for pulling away from her eventually, but they couldn't really linger doing that for too long. And a second later when a worker came to shelve a book he didn't feel so bad moving away from her, though he still didn't like having to. He squeezed her hand and said, "Do you like it?"

"Yes," Beckett said simply, smiling at him. "Any others?"

"Maybe this one," Castle said, and he pointed to a book before pulling it out for her. They decided together to read that one, and as he followed her to the register for her to buy the books, he suddenly realized that he had never really read a book with his ex wives as he'd done with Beckett a number of times already. While he watched her talking with the woman while she was paying, he suddenly wondered about his plans that night. But he recalled the table he'd requested when he'd found the place, and he felt his confidence quickly come back with that. So much so that he was almost too eager in taking the bag of books from her.

"I'm not fragile," Beckett said as they stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"No, I know," Castle quickly told her. "I'm just… eager about tonight. Not that," he said when she gave him a look. "Well… now I am. But no, about dinner."

"So you're hungry," Beckett said.

About to reply to that, Castle studied his wife and said, "I could be."

When his eyes trailed down her body, Beckett froze mid-step but then said, "And this is why we're pretty much even in that."

"Basically," Castle agreed with her, reminded of that morning with her words. "Come on, now we can head up to the castle," he said as they crossed to the other side of the street and went around the block to where it was.

They took a tour together through the castle, and after the near forty minutes they walked back through where they'd been so Beckett could take pictures. They paused under the wooden arches in the ceiling and speaking in a whisper, heard the echo of their voices. It was then that Castle whispered to his wife that they should have had their wedding there to have said their vows to make them more powerful. At her soft laugh they headed to the gift shop and bought a few things for their family and friends before they headed to their car. On the walk back around the block, Beckett took pictures before she and Castle went into the diamond, getting someone passing by to take one of them together with the castle behind them as he kissed her cheek.

* * *

Reading the prologue of the first book he'd gotten for himself and his wife, Castle heard her calling to him and he hurried over to see that she was holding her hair over her shoulder, her dress wide open in the back. "Really?" he asked in surprise.

"Well, if you want me to go with my back exposed so other men can see…" Beckett commented as she looked at him in the mirror. She smiled when he quickly zipped the blue fabric and turning to him said, "Thank you, now, enough for where we're going?"

"It is," Castle said absently, letting his gaze trail over her before she stepped up to him. "I'm tempted to say let's just stay here."

"Then our friends will have been right, that we're only here for that reason," Beckett teased him as she straightened his lapels. "But I promise you, you won't regret taking me to wherever it is we're going."

"It's called Harvey's Restaurant," Castle told her. "At a hotel called Harvey's Point. I've never been there, but it's right on Lough Eske so I thought it would be romantic."

Beckett pulled on his lapels to bring him down to her, kissing him deeply before they slowly parted from each other. "You take a lot of effort in that," she commented.

"I need to," Castle simply replied. "We should go though love," he told her, getting uncomfortable as have her so close along with the kiss was making him feel his arousal.

"Alright," Beckett said letting him take her hand before he pulled her out of the room with her shawl in his hand. The fifteen minute drive to the lake had them talking about their plans the next day, but they weren't able to finish as they approached the hotel on the lake. She fell silent when she first saw the lake and the buildings on the western edge of it. "Oh Rick, we need to bring Julia and the baby here," she told him when she looked at him and saw he was glancing at her from time to time while he drove.

"And everyone else in the family. We could stay here," Castle commented. "It has more rooms than where we're staying right now." Parking the car he watched as his wife almost shot out of the door and when he heard the click of her camera shutter, he chuckled under his breath as he couldn't blame her; the scenery was too good to pass up. "It'll be interesting to see what Julia and your dad are like here if this gets that kind of reaction out of you," he told her as he went around the car to her.

Not responding to him verbally, Beckett kissed him instead, cupping his cheek with her hand before she pulled away. She was a little surprised when he followed her, kissing her again, but as quickly as she had. She took his arm as they went up to the building, and she squeezed it as they were led through the restaurant after her husband had given his name, going outside. "Well," she said once they were seated at their table. "I don't think you need to worry about this being romantic."

"I was hoping," Castle said, watching her take a picture. Since their waiter was waiting for their drink order he quickly gave them, knowing already what Beckett wanted. "So we're pretty much set right? On tomorrow."

"We are, but aside from tomorrow, I'm wondering if we could go swimming at all in the ocean?" Beckett asked, finally turning from the view of the lake to him.

"We can look for a beach," Castle said, nodding. "I did pack my trunks, just in case. Please tell me you have a swimsuit of some kind."

"I do," Beckett said. She shook her head and since their waiter was coming over then with their drinks, told Castle quickly, "I'm not swimming naked in the Atlantic. You'll have enough chances to see me like that Rick."

Ordering their food, Castle wasn't sure how exactly he was able to get the words out, but he heard himself getting almost the same as Beckett; except for their desserts. When the man had left them alone again he raised his glass and tapped it against hers as she did the same saying, " _Sláinte_."

" _Sláinte_ ," Beckett replied with a slight smile as she'd easily seen Castle's mind had been elsewhere before. They were both quiet as their eyes turned again to their view, and she couldn't help think of that night. She was thinking about it for so long; not really seeing the gently moving water of the lake; that when her husband placed his hand on hers she nearly jumped in the air. "What?" she asked.

"No, just watching you, looking at this again," Castle said, looking down at his left hand and the ring there.

"Give it some time, it'll sink in that we're married," Beckett assured him. "Just like the baby."

"Interesting since both ways there will be physical proof of both," Castle commented. At her shaking her head but smiling he asked, "What do you think she's doing right now?"

"Most likely either in the pool or the ocean," Beckett replied. "We can't forget to call."

"I know I won't, but how much are we going to tell them all about what we do during the day?" Castle said.

"We'll just give them the basics, when we go through the pictures with them we'll be able to tell them in more detail," Beckett replied. She then brought up the subject of the nursery again; suddenly wanting a reminder of that as well as the reminder of their wedding bands. The conversation carried them through dinner as it delved into a more serious tone when they talked about what they wanted for their child and even a little about how they wanted to raise Julia and the baby in the beachside community.

"I just hope," Castle was saying as they left their table and he draped Beckett's shawl over her arms. "That we don't spoil them too much."

"It's hard," Beckett said as they walked out to the edge of the lake to take a walk along it. "I never realized how difficult it is not to give your child what they want."

"Especially when they try the not breathing thing Alexis did to me that one time I told you about," Castle reminded her as they paused to watch the sun setting.

Smiling at that, Beckett squeezed his hand and said, "But we've done alright with Julia."

"We have," Castle agreed. "Though you're right, it's hard not to go too crazy with that."

"Do you think we could do this back at the hotel?" Beckett suddenly asked after she'd taken a few pictures.

"Walk along the water?" Castle inquired. When she nodded, he smiled and said, "Want to go find out?" At Beckett's nod, he led her back to their car, and they returned to the hotel, going from were he parked the car to the northern side of the island. They went through some trees to the edge and as they listened to the water of the bay running back and forth below them, he said uneasily, "I don't know if we should really walk that far love."

"I know, this is fine, we-" Beckett started to say.

"What was that?" Castle said, hearing a twig snap to their left. He heard what sounded like multiple footsteps getting closer to them, and realizing they couldn't run away in time, tried to get Beckett to go behind him to shield her. But just as he was getting her back, he saw white, and then jumped towards the person before he skidded to a stop.

"Castle it's a sheep!" Beckett said as the ewe bleated at her husband and then walked around them to go to the road. "I wonder whose that is?"

"I think one of the houses on the curve we passed by before the causeway," Castle commented. "I swear I thought it was a person, more than one person."

"And you were trying to protect me and the baby," Beckett stated. "I know, it's sweet, but it wasn't necessary."

"Should we just go inside?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, actually, there's something I'd like to do before we call our family," Beckett said with a smile. She took his hand as they walked back to the building and inside she took him to the little parlor she'd noticed when they were checking in earlier. "Care for a match- oh," she said when she reached the chess table set up for a game with two armchairs on either side of it. She stopped herself abruptly when she saw the dog curled up next to the chairs and smiled when it raised its head. "I guess we're not alone."

"It seems friendly… and big," Castle said as the dog stood and shook itself as Beckett sat on one of the chairs. "That's an Irish Wolfhound isn't it?"

"Very friendly," Beckett replied with a wide smile. She ran her hand over the dog's head a few times before her husband sat across from her. She was about to move one of the pieces on her side of the table, when the dog rested its head on her leg, looking up at her pleadingly.

"So would you like a dog?" Castle inquired as he watched with a slight smile on his face.

"After the baby is born," Beckett said simply. "Make your move," she told him.

Castle moved a pawn, and then paid more attention to the game than the dog. It wasn't until the door to the study had opened that he looked away from the board.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the concierge said. "I've been looking for my dog Molly, but I see you've found her. I hope she's not bothering you."

"Not at all," Beckett assured him as she watched the dog stroll over to her owner. "Is she going to have puppies?" she asked him.

"Very soon," the man replied. "If you could take them I'd save one for you, but they've all been promised. Has everything been alright?"

"It has, thank you Kerry," Castle said with a nod to the man before he said goodnight to them and left with his dog. "Okay, so, whose move?" he asked her.

"Mine," Beckett said, and she moved, taking his second to last pawn.

"You know," Castle commented idly as he was looking at his pieces. "She might have realized you were pregnant too. That's why she stayed with you."

"I'm sure it's scientific Castle, if she did," Beckett replied wryly. "My scent has probably changed with the change in my hormones and she picked up on that. Not a bond because both of us are pregnant."

"I like my explanation, more romantic," Castle teased her.

"You've become more romantic lately, any reason?" Beckett asked, making her move then.

"Lately, I was while we were dating," Castle scoffed. "But you know," he said, shrugging as he held a knight in his hand. "If you want me to stop…"

"I'd like to see you try," Beckett said, frowning when he checked her king. She was able to get herself out of danger and then said, "You realize I've been the same too, I wouldn't normally kiss you like I did in the bookstore."

Castle didn't reply to that, and then moved so he was able to finish the game after two more of his turns. He smiled and said, "Checkmate, now come on, I want to see Julia and Alexis," as he took her hand and helped her out of her chair. They said goodnight to the new concierge at the front desk and up in the room he quickly got everything ready so they could start their Skype conversation with their family as his wife got her phone to call Alexis.

"There they are," Alexis said as her dad and Beckett appeared on the screen.

"Hi Mommy, Daddy!" Julia cried, waving at them both.

Squeezing Castle's hand at that, Beckett replied first saying, "Hey sweetie, how are you?"

"Good are you having fun?" Julia asked quickly.

"We are, your mom is taking a lot of pictures, so we'll have to show you them when we go home," Castle told her. "How was it at the beach?"

"We went to swim at the pool too. But it was fun 'cause I had my friends with me," Julia replied. "But I miss you."

"Two weeks will go by fast," Beckett assured her. "In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the summer since you'll be starting school soon."

"I know," Julia said with a frown. "But tomorrow we're gonna go see a polo game."

"Really?" Castle asked. "Now I'm kind of jealous."

"You'll be playing soon I'm sure," Beckett said, shaking her head. "Why are you going there?"

"Mari's daddy is playing, so we get to go and see. I can't wait to see the horsies!" Julia cried. "Is that what you're going to play Daddy?"

"I'm hoping," Castle replied.

"Kay, what did you do?" Julia then asked excitedly. "What did you see in Ireland?"

Smiling at her husband, Beckett told their daughter about their trip that day, but she didn't go into a lot of detail, not surprised when her dad commented on that. "When we show you the pictures we'll tell you more," she told him. "But for now just know that we are having a great time, but missing you all."

"Well, I'm sure not that much, it is your honeymoon. How are you doing Kate?" Martha asked.

"I'm fine," Beckett said simply with a smile as she'd been expecting someone to ask that. "And if you're going to ask I'm also doing okay energy wise."

"I'm not rushing her from place to place Mother," Castle told her, shaking his head. When Beckett put her hand on his arm he then said, "So is this time okay to call?"

"It is Dad," Alexis replied. "We're going to go ahead and start dinner after we hang up," she told him.

"I get to help," Julia said jumping up and down in front of the TV.

"I'm not surprised, just be careful sweetheart," Castle told her.

"Are you going to go somewhere else tomorrow?" Julia asked after nodding her head.

"We'll tell you tomorrow when we call," Beckett said. "For now we better go, let you guys get your dinner." After she and Castle had said goodbye to their parents and Alexis, she looked at Julia on the screen of the tablet and said, "I love you sweetie, goodnight."

"I love you too Mommy, sleep good tonight; you and the baby," Julia said, not surprised when her grandparents behind her laughed softly.

"And I love you too Julia," Castle said. "Sweet dreams."

"Love you Daddy, night," Julia said, waving shyly at him.

After disconnecting the call, Castle said, "She'll get used to it."

"Of course," Beckett said, standing up from the table they'd been sitting at. "Now clean this up and I'll be right back."

"Why do I have to clean-" Castle pretended to whine before he looked over at Beckett and his words froze in his throat as she was looking back at him before she closed the door. He still had no idea how she managed to do that, one look and she could make him instantly obey or react depending on what he was doing. The surprising thing was it had been happening so consistently through their relationship. He had to push himself then to get everything put away in his carry on suitcase for their drive the next day, and it helped distract him a little, though in no way made him forget his wife.

When she opened the door, Beckett thanked her luck when she saw that Castle was at one of the windows, looking out. "You listened to me," she teased him to get his attention. "I'm impressed."

"I-" Castle started to say before stopping himself abruptly as he saw her, eyes roaming up and down her form as she came closer. "Love," he breathed out.

"You've seen me wear this before," Beckett said in slight amusement as he wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her against him.

"You shouldn't really question why I have that reaction to you; I don't," Castle said simply as he leaned down. He kissed her, gently at first to gauge where she was, and when she responded immediately to him, he held her tighter and deepened it, slipping his tongue inside of her mouth. He groaned as he could feel her breasts against his chest, and wondered why he was still dressed.

As if she could read his mind, Beckett was reaching up and starting to unbutton his shirt. She had to pull back slightly from him to be able to go down further, and she was at about the middle one when she felt his hand slide under her light blue negligee to cup her ass, making her jump against him, breaking off their current kiss.

"I didn't know you were naked already under this," Castle said quickly as he moved his hand slightly. "Sorry… though not about touching you."

Beckett just gave him a quick look as he brought that hand back up to the small of her back, and she hurriedly unbuttoned the rest of the dark blue shirt before it was off of him. She wasn't at all surprised when he pulled her back to him and said, "You're not uncomfortable?"

"Why would I be?" Castle asked, looking at her in slight confusion. When she patted his groin in between them he immediately grunted, and said, "That's… yes."

Biting her lower lip, Beckett got what she wanted when he eased his hold of her, and she hurriedly opened his trousers before they were being discarded to the floor. She watched her husband as he stood straight again and was surprised when he flinched a little. "What is it?" she asked.

"No, I just feel really uncomfortable," Castle said, getting out of his boxers quickly. "I… okay," he said as they both were looking down at him. "That's never happened before."

"You're sure?" Beckett asked, slightly shocked. When his reply was to pick her up and set her on the bed, she realized that she hadn't been seeing things, he was so aroused that his erection was curved up on his stomach. She had never seen it herself until then, and she hadn't thought it was possible either. Before she could express her doubts that no woman had ever elicited that kind of reaction from him, she felt her husband's lips on hers, and she kissed him back, wondering why he hadn't taken off her negligee. But as he trailed down her body after they parted, she decided it wasn't something she needed to know.

Castle was waging war with his body then, as his arousal was screaming for him to pay it some attention, but he ignored it, trying to focus on his wife. He groaned as he kissed his way down to her feet, brushing across the tops of them before coming back up and sitting up. When she moved to straddle his lap, he groaned in pleasure as he could feel that way she was definitely naked under what there was of the light blue fabric. He was kissing her by then, and their tongues met and mated together roughly before parting so they could gasp down some air. Gripping her hips then, and he carefully moved her above him a little, and that time it really did take both of them to get him inside of her. He was holding her tightly around the waist as her hips met his, and he breathed out heavily in pleasure as she hadn't been too unaffected by his exploration of her body.

"You don't want to take this off?" Beckett asked, surprised when he moved once in her after she hadn't for a while.

"Not at the moment," Castle said, looking at her chest. He reached up and pulled the thin straps off her shoulders, revealing her breasts to him. He wrapped his arms around her firmly as he nuzzled both mounds with his lips, and he was suddenly groaning into her skin as she proceeded to move. He was a little surprised when she started out going so slowly, but then realized she didn't want him to stop what he was doing. He might have gotten a little smug, but the feel of her around him, rocking back forth was enough to keep him from doing that. Before he could get too distracted though, he was leaning down and capturing her nipple with his lips. He groaned as she grasped the back of his head, and he could feel his wife thrust against him, rocking hard into his body.

As she could feel him proceeding to suck carefully at her breast, Beckett ran her hand down the back of his head, making sure that he noticed it. His body shuddering roughly against her let her know he had, and she moved a little harder, feeling him doing the same. She breathed deeply as he was flicking his tongue over her nipple, and could feel the sensation of that shoot directly though her to where they were coupled together, and she finally couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't surprised to see that her husband looked a bit startled at how hard she made him move away from her, but she didn't bother to apologize, instead she rolled her hips and nearly smirked as he groaned loudly, grabbing her hips tightly so he could follow her. But she became too involved in trying to take off her negligee, and was relieved when he helped her. "I think you have… a better view now," she teased him with as the silk was tossed aside.

"Much," Castle said simply, watching the way her hips were rolling around him. He had his hands on the small of her back then, and he could swear she was hypnotizing him. At some point she was tilting his head up to hers, and they kissed deeply, but briefly before she gasped and jerked away slightly. "Do you want me to stop love?" he asked her, having begun to stroke her breasts as carefully as he could. He was surprised when she leaned her forehead against his, and knew she was watching him, getting a rush through him to add to all the other ones that zipped through him in very little time. Like in her body, they were centered on where he was coupled with her, and he was grunting a little as she suddenly started to flex her muscles around him. It made things so much tighter that for a crazy second he was afraid he wouldn't be able to move within her.

Watching him as he proceeded to carefully slide his hands down her sides, Beckett met his eyes, and the look in them was like a punch to the chest. She knew there was no way she could see it there, but she felt his love for her in that glance, and it nearly scared her as it was so intense his blue eyes were almost black. She kissed him, starting out carefully before his hands clasped at the small of her back, and before long they were roughly dueling with their tongues inside of her mouth. Her thrusts had become erratic with that kiss, until she couldn't take it anymore, and she pulled away crying, "Oh god Rick, lay me back and fuck me!"

The tone of his wife's voice, insistent and desperate, caught Castle's attention immediately, and her stopping all movement on him made him do the same. He hurriedly laid her on her back, and wildly threw her legs under his arms before he was literally lunging at her, both of them yelling in response to that as he filled her instantly. Thrusting hard, Castle watched Beckett as he worked up to the point where he was fucking her, amazed at how her body looked trying to keep up with him. She was clutching at the bed under her, her knuckles white with the pressure of that. He had no idea where the thought came from, but the idea of him being the only one to get to see her in that way made him abruptly speed up, and he leaned over as he let her slide her legs down to his waist before one went back up his side slightly. Kissing her he was as rough as his body was against hers, not able to help it. But he could feel that she was enjoying it as she responded in the same way, and he shuddered at how she matched him so eagerly. Her body around him was making him try to move faster and harder, wanting to make her cry out and moan as she suddenly did when he managed to brush against her clit. He watched her closely then, forcing his eyes open as he didn't want to miss the pleasure on her face.

Though her eyes were closed, Beckett could feel her husband staring at her, and she felt her entire body heat up at his doing that, since it made it more intimate. It took her a moment, but finally she managed to open her own eyes, and as they stared at each other, she was crying out in protest as he stopped. "Love, don't," she begged him when he just looked at her, panting as hard as she was. She wasn't too surprised when he ignored that request, and remained still for what felt like ages. But the second he moved inside her again she was reaching up, digging her nails into his arms as she tried to withstand the abrupt ecstasy that shot through her tightly coiled body. She had no idea how she wasn't getting off, but didn't question it as he kept moving, leaning down to just barely flick his tongue over each nipple before he pulled away.

"Love," Castle murmured as he slowed down a little before stopping completely. At her groan of irritation he would have laughed if he wasn't doing the same himself inwardly. At that moment he passed the time he spent staying still kissing around his wife's shoulders before going up to her neck. There he carefully nuzzled at it until she tilted her head back enough to give him space. The second he started to suck, he wasn't surprised when her arms came all the way up around him, as he was being a little rough in that. Nibbling around the area, he heard her soft gasps and barely audibly moans, which made him abruptly thrust a little against her, the sound so erotic to him. He moved up to her lips and kissed her slowly before they parted and he whispered to her, "I adore you love."

Moving her head up slightly to take his lips again, Beckett whispered to him when she was apart enough, "I love you Rick." She wasn't surprised when he began to move once more, and she was quick to join him, their hips smacking together loudly in the room as they forgot about everything but each other. She could feel the sweat coating her body as Castle's breath was heavy on her damp skin while she held him close to her. Her fingers slid down the back of his neck, his shaking against her making her take him deeper inside of her, and she was gasping, moaning out his name, calling him love before she turned to kiss him deeply. "Oh… yes, please… more… god love…" she begged him. She was startled when he suddenly turned his hips down, ramming into her clit. It was the last straw for her, and her back arched so far she was almost against his chest, nearly screaming his name as her orgasm ripped through her from head to toe, not seeming to stop for a second. She had her hands on his back, nails digging into his skin as she felt him joining her.

Losing control of the rhythm he'd had, Castle didn't really care, as he could hear the ecstasy in his wife's voice as she cried his name; it matched his own tone as he nearly yelled hers. He groaned as he couldn't seem to stop, his heart thudding in his chest wildly, trying to keep up with how he was moving, still fucking her furiously. But eventually he began to falter, and with a last couple of thrusts that shook the bed harder than before he collapsed, feeling Beckett's arms wrap tightly around him as he slumped down on her, breathing hard against her skin as his cheek was pressed to her shoulder. "You're… I'm not going to get tired of that," he groaned a few minutes later when he felt better about speaking and breathing at the same time.

"I'm glad to get that kind of reassurance. I don't want you to stop doing that," Beckett said. She smiled when he glanced up at her questioningly and she told him, "Either one, making love to me or fucking me, whatever the situation calls for."

"Yeah, that… called for some very rough intimacy," Castle said, looking around for her negligee though he didn't move away from her.

"I should wear stuff like that more often," Beckett said, running her fingers through her husband's moist hair as he was glancing over the side of the bed. When he came back to her immediately she took his kiss, surprised when it was very gentle and slow before he pressed his forehead against hers when they had to breathe.

"I don't know love, I might end up taking you like I just did every time," Castle commented.

"I wouldn't mind it," Beckett said with a smile. She laughed softly when his eyes went wide as he pulled back enough so he could look at her, and she kissed him again, that time a little deeper.

After exchanging a few more kisses like that, Castle and Beckett went to sleep, with her against his side as he held her to him. But two hours later the room's silence was punctuated by the sound of moaning that grew louder until Beckett's eyes flew open.

Breathing out roughly, Beckett looked up, seeing that her husband was not above her as her body struggled to calm down. She looked to her left, seeing that he was asleep, on his side facing away from her. Biting at her lower lip, she raised herself up on her elbows, looking down her body. But having no evidence that she had orgasmed, she reached between her legs and felt her cheeks grow heated for a moment to feel it there before Castle turned over, placing his hand on her thigh. Looking down at him, her dream came back to her where she hadn't seen much, but knew that he'd been above her, fucking her roughly. The reminder of him driving her to her peak made her turn over onto him, and she cupped his cheek, turning his head to her before an idea struck her.

Getting off the bed, Beckett slipped on the negligee, not surprised it was cool against her heated skin. Going back to Castle, she kissed him deeply, and was relieved when he woke up at some point as she wasn't sure how much longer she could have taken trying to wake him up. "I need you Rick," she told him as he looked at her in slight confusion, still trying to wake up obviously. To help him along, she took his length in her hand, and proceeded to stroke him slowly, hearing him grunting in pleasure immediately.

As he grew harder, Castle managed to sit up and he cupped the back of his wife's head before he crushed her lips with his own, and he made her let go of him before they were fighting with one another as they tilted their heads back and forth a little desperately. He managed to make himself pull away from her eventually, running his fingers slowly through her hair as they stared at each other. Once he was through her locks, he pushed down the strap of her negligee on her right shoulder, leaning down to nibble at the junction between it and her neck. When she moved away from him, there was no protest from him, as he followed her to her side of the bed before he stopped her. "I need to see you," he said.

"You always do," Beckett said with a smile before he pulled her lingerie off of her. She didn't mind that, but before he could toss it aside, she was giving him a peck on the lips. She laughed softly when he let it fly randomly; not even looking at it; before he was kissing her hard. But it was a quick kiss as she'd done before, and it soon turned into many more before he was laying her down.

"How my love?" Castle asked before he kissed her rapidly.

"Make love to me Rick," Beckett said, not sure until right when she opened her mouth to speak as to how she wanted him. Her dream had been rougher, but she suddenly craved the steady, deliberate feel of him moving inside of her, and she was soon rewarded with that as he entered her slowly, and proceeded to thrust just as she'd been wanting.

After Castle kissed his wife hungrily, they were a little lost in their pleasure, trying to drive each other to the heights of it, which they eventually reached. He moved away from her quickly, and then pressed his cheek to her abdomen, realizing he'd forgotten to do that before they'd gone to sleep. "Any reason?" he asked when he caught his breath.

"I woke up coming," Beckett said simply. She nodded with a smile when he looked at her and said, "I needed you."

"I know, I think this might be a preview of how you'll be as you get further along," Castle said, his hand gently squeezing her abdomen. "And I can't wait to get to that point."

Biting her lower lip, Beckett drew him up to her, not surprised when he pressed his lips to her stomach and went up to her. Kissing him, she wrapped her arms around him tightly as she tangled her tongue with his. When they parted she whispered, "Love you."

"Love you Kate," Castle murmured back to her, nuzzling her nose with his. He could tell she was tired, so he forced himself to pull away before he let her lay down on her side, lying behind her, pressed close. He was a little surprised when she shifted a little against his groin deliberately and he looked over her shoulder at her.

"For the morning," Beckett said with a slight smirk. She wasn't surprised at his hungry kiss then, and took it lovingly before she caressed his cheek. As he slung his arm over her, resting his hand on her abdomen, she smiled and closed her eyes, their whispered goodnights almost loud in the silent room before calm descended once more as they slept deeply in their mutual satiety.


	19. Land Full Of Beauty And Wonder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song The Luck of the Irish by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, from their album Some Time in New York City.

Walking to the end of the path, Castle watched his wife look out at the view, and seeing the expression on her face said, "I told you."

"I know, and it is amazing," Beckett said, getting her camera from her bag. She took some pictures before she went to the westernmost point of the viewing area where they were. She then turned to the south, and took some pictures of the face of the Cliffs of Moher. Turning to her left very slightly, she took a picture of the grass, very green as it had been raining off and on for the last two days. "So what are we doing?" she asked.

"Had your fill?" Castle asked in amusement, knowing she'd seen the tower in the distance.

"Wait," Beckett told him quickly as she turned to the north then and took a series of pictures with the camera's panoramic program. When her husband's arm slipped around her she smiled and turned to him saying, "I'd like to walk down there," nodding to the tower to the south.

"Great, me too," Castle said. "I wasn't able to go inside, but when I looked at the site, it's open now. Should have a great view from the lookout." He took her hand then and as they started out on the path he squeezed it, remembering the days since they'd left Donegal. Going through Sligo had been fun for the day they'd been there, but what he'd enjoyed the most so far was Galway, since they'd gone out to the Aran Islands both days as Beckett had enjoyed their first visit there so much. "I wish we could go horseback riding," he suddenly said.

Turning from the view of the ocean in the distance since she couldn't look straight down, Beckett smiled and said, "So do I, but we were still able to drive through the Burren a little."

"That's true, but next time we're here, we're going," Castle said.

"Alright," Beckett replied with a slight laugh as he pointed with him thumb over his shoulder back in the direction towards it. "When you were here," she said after they spent a few minutes walking in silence. "Were you hit on?" she asked, remembering for some reason the day before and how a few women had tried doing that with him at the dock in Galway.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask me if I was hit on all over," Castle said. "And a few times, yes, but I never picked them up on it; I have no idea why."

"It sounded like this was more of a soul searching journey than a search for that," Beckett commented.

"You make a valid point," Castle said, nodding his head. "And it probably was though I never called it that. Look."

Beckett turned to the flowers along the path on his side, and she was quick to take a picture as they were blue. She then lowered her arms so the camera itself was even with the ground and knowing Castle was watching her, told him, "I did this in Central Park a few times, depending on the season."

"Let me see," Castle said, not needing to cover the screen when she handed the camera to him since it was foggy still. "Yeah, that's pretty nice, I like that technique." He then thought of something and asked her, "Your dad has one of those pictures on his wall doesn't he?"

"The winter one," Beckett answered with a nod. "He told me he liked keeping that one since that was something I got from him. My mom wasn't as into photography as he and I were when I was younger. Maybe I should get into it more," she murmured.

"You should," Castle said, knowing she was thinking about how she'd gotten back into horseback riding since she'd stopped doing that with her mother. "I'll join you on any trips you might want to take for that, or keep you company, whatever."

Beckett smiled and said, "That would be nice, but sometimes I might take Julia out on my own."

"Then I'll do something else," Castle said simply. By then they'd reached the tower, and going up to the middle floor they looked at an exhibition about the history of the tower. It was very short, and they were soon going all the way up to the roof viewing platform. There he was happy to watch his wife take a number of pictures until finally she asked someone there to take a picture of the two of them.

With her camera in her bag, Beckett leaned against the edge of the platform with Castle, and she smiled as she watched him close his eyes, obviously letting the breeze blow in his face. She hesitated for a moment before giving a mental shrug and she closed her own eyes. She could smell the salt water below them; the breeze was cool and was running through her hair, making her locks tangle among themselves before she felt her husband cuddle her close. "It had to be a spiritual trip Rick," she commented as she finally opened her eyes.

"I know, I realize that now. But if I'd been with you then it would have been easier to see at the time," Castle said, rubbing his hand over her back. "We're bringing everyone here."

Smiling at that, Beckett realized that at some point she'd put her hand on her stomach and she glanced down at it before a group of loud tourists coming onto the platform made her move it. She and Castle shared a quick look, and they went back down, going a little further past the tower. At that point she said, "Should we keep going?"

"Well, it's almost lunch, do you want to eat here or grab something like we were planning on the drive?" Castle asked.

"What we originally said we'd do," Beckett replied. She laughed slightly when he took her hand and led her back the way they'd come saying, "You know I could have wanted to keep walking."

"I already am aware you want to head to the manor," Castle said quickly as he tucked her hand into his arm so she could hold the upper part of it. "My eagerness to go must be contagious. Should we stop at the gift shop?"

"Quickly, I want us to send at least one postcard to Julia," Beckett said. "And I think it needs to be from here." She paused and then said, "Actually, make that a postcard for our family."

"Great, I'm sure they'll have some kind of mail service at the manor or in Adare, definitely there," Castle said.

"You don't mind resting the rest of the today?" Beckett asked as they neared the gift shop.

"No, we've been running around, and I promised my mother I wouldn't do that," Castle said. "You know she's been paying close attention to you, wanting to make sure you and the baby are okay."

"That's true," Beckett said with a smile. "I'm touched she is, or is it because it's her third grandchild."

"Part of it is that," Castle started to say with a little hesitation. When she pushed him to explain he told her, "It's probably going to be really corny, or cheesy, take your pick once you hear this. But she told me the morning after you told me that this baby meant so much more than Alexis did for me and Meredith. Not being insulting to Alexis, but while she did bring us closer together, obviously it wasn't enough; but we both love her. Mother thinks this baby of ours; plus Julia; is going to make us closer than we've been before. The fact that you and Julia accept Alexis so much is a bonus for us all."

"That's sweet, but an odd way of thinking," Beckett said. "But I know how much your mother dislikes Meredith. And before you say anything," she told her husband as she could tell he was about to speak. "She's always been afraid you'd start a serious relationship with your ex, like you did with Gina after you'd been divorced."

"She's terrified of that," Castle said. "But you know already I wouldn't sleep with her, why should I?"

"So your days of a deep fried Twinkie are over?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, I was able to find something a lot healthier for me," Castle said, nodding as he let his gaze trail down her body. He grinned when he saw his wife's cheeks slightly flushing as he knew she was remembering the morning of their second day in Galway, when he'd woken her up a little early with his dream of making love to her. He followed her into the gift shop then, helping her pick out a few items from the selection; a postcard and t-shirts for their daughters; before they headed to the café to get lunch. Back in the car he asked her, "All set?"

"I am, I might ask you to stop here and there," Beckett said, holding up her camera before she put it on the pocket in between them. "But for now, I'm starving."

Castle smiled as he drove out of the parking lot, listening to the directions from the navigation app on his phone. He soon had them on a highway, and he ate with his wife as they discussed the things they'd seen so far on their honeymoon, that conversation lasting the entire hour and a half drive as he stopped a few times for Beckett to take pictures of the scenery.

As they drove down a small street and turned to go back north, Beckett saw the manor come into view fully and she said, "So they made it into a hotel, or there are buildings around it."

"It's the hotel," Castle said with a brief smile as he drove past the mazes and then the building itself. "We'll be inside, and I told you I've never been here, I just found it in our book. But I did look at it a little online and I think you'll be pretty impressed. I know I was."

"If this was England…" Beckett began when she'd gotten out of the car.

"I know, I was thinking of the show too," Castle said with a nod. "We're staying on the top floor, and since we're here for two nights, I splurged a little on you love." He looked up from getting their suitcases from the trunk and laughed at her expression saying, "Okay, it's for both of us, I wanted to have the best experience here, and when I saw the bathroom our room would have I had to reserve it since I was thinking of you."

"I think we better go inside the room or else I'm going to have the jab you in the ribs for being vague," Beckett said though a smile was slightly turning up the corners of her lips. She took her carry on and suitcase and they went inside, surprised when a man in a suit nodded to them, wishing them a good afternoon. She could only nod, as they stepped into the reception area, and she was a little awed at the décor. It looked like things had been kept much as they had been in that room in the past, a huge fireplace with a carved mantel behind the receptionist's desk. She let Castle check them in as she looked around, standing next to the grand piano that was near the desk, studying the carving in the wood on the second floor.

"Okay, we're all set," Castle said. "I asked how long it took to drive into the town and he said five minutes, I also asked how long to walk, and he said fifteen minutes. I wasn't sure if you'd want to go back into the car."

"I'd rather walk," Beckett said as a bellman came with a cart. "This is… incredible," she told him, looking around as they went to the elevator, taking his hand.

"I asked if you could take pictures and he said sure, as long as you don't sell them," Castle said, watching her though he was looking around them as well before they got into the car.

"Thank you for that, Julia will love seeing this place. I think your mom will too," Beckett told him.

"Oh, that's a given," Castle said with a slight laugh. "So do you want to rest, take a nap?"

"No, I got enough rest on the drive down here," Beckett replied. She then turned to the bellman and asked, "Are there any bookstores in the town?"

"There is ma'am," he replied. "Just one, but it's well stocked, it's on the main street, called Adare Booksellers."

"Great, thank you," Beckett said. They were walking down the hall then, and she looked around at the carvings in the wood covering the walls as well as the doors to the rooms which were carved. After the bellman had opened the door to their room, she wasn't surprised when her husband urged her inside first, and stepping inside she nearly faltered. But she continued, looking around again in awe, as the room was huge. It had a large, four poster bed, covered with a rich blue comforter that matched the color of the curtains and upholstery on the chairs through the room. She went further inside, seeing a bench in front of the bed before her eyes caught sight of the blue line at the top of the wall, nearly matching the shade in the comforter. She then noticed one of the two sets of windows, and she went over to see the view and to also wait for the bellman to leave.

"So, what do you think?" Castle asked after handing the man a twenty before he closed the door to leave them in privacy.

"It's amazing," Beckett said simply, looking at him and seeing the fireplace he was in front of. "I'll probably be saying that all through this trip."

Castle watched her look over the mantel that was covered by a stone awning saying, "I thought it might be too old fashioned for you, but it's not too bad for a couple nights."

"What, you were worried about the décor?" Beckett asked. "When I saw the outside of this place I was expecting that, and you fulfilled my expectations." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him then before he could say anything, moaning softly as he held her tightly against him and began responding to her.

When they'd managed to stop their third kiss, Castle took her hand and said, "Let me show you the bathroom."

"Right," Beckett said, remembering what he'd said as they'd left the car. She wasn't surprised when he let her go in first. What caught her eye immediately were the blue curtains the same color as the room outside. Then she looked at the tub in front of the same long thin windows that were in the bedroom and she said, "So you're expecting me to bathe tonight," she teased him though she was eager to try the huge, tub that looked out on a stunning view of the gardens since they were on that side of the manor.

"And allow me to help you wash, yes," Castle said, laughing when she glanced over her shoulder back at him as she went to the windows.

Turning to the bathtub, Beckett saw her husband looking at the soaps and bottles at the sink and she walked away before she took the initiative to start things a little too soon. "So, we should unpack," she said to further distract herself and also to get his attention. "And then go? Although I'm a little hungry, lunch wasn't that big."

"Sorry," Castle said sincerely since when they'd gotten to the café he'd bought them some small wraps that hadn't really been a meal. He took her hand and led her out to the suitcases asking, "Do you want to unpack something?"

"My clothes for tonight and tomorrow," Beckett said simply. "What are your plans for dinner? Something early? Are we eating in Adare?"

"No, when I saw their tea menu at the café, I remembered they have a real tea here at the manor," Castle said, getting his suitcase on the bed after putting hers on what he knew already would be her side. Taking out his shirt, trousers and jacket for that night he told her, "I remember you mentioning on the flight to Donegal you wanted to try that here in Ireland."

"Would you be okay with that?" Beckett asked after hanging her dress in the armoire in the corner of the room.

"Sure, I looked at the menu while we were in line, and I'm interested," Castle said, coming back to get his shirt for the next day. "And starving, that wrap was like one potato chip."

"Then we should go," Beckett said with a laugh, hanging up her clothes for the next day. She got her bag but then paused saying, "We're going to Adare straight from wherever we have tea right?"

"Yeah, the postcard," Castle said, realizing what she was talking about. He followed her to the desk that was next to the table, surprised when she handed it to him. "We'll both write something," he said as he uncapped a pen on the desktop. He then began to write quickly putting; _We miss you all and promise we'll bring you here to see this beautiful view and country yourselves_.

Sitting down after her husband had moved, Beckett wrote simply, _Miss you like he said, we'll go all over Ireland with you and show you your ancestors' amazing home_.

"You sound like Mother," Castle commented as he signed in the space she'd left at the bottom for that. When she was signing he moved her hair away from the left side of her neck and leaned down, kissing it gently before he started to take a piece of it in his mouth.

"Stop," Beckett said, smiling as she was pleased, the rush of warmth his touch provided her making her hesitate a little. She was somehow able to write down the address and said as she stood, "I don't need another mark I have to coat in makeup, this one looked weird enough," touching the other side of her neck where his ardor when they were still in Sligo had led to a bruise she'd been hard pressed to hide from public view; not minding the bruise itself, just hating hiding it. "Okay, let's go because I agree, I'm starving too."

Nodding, Castle took her hand and followed her to the door before he suddenly stopped her. "Just one?" he asked.

"You never stop with just one," Beckett said in mock exasperation though her heart was starting to beat wildly as he leaned down towards her. She made no further protests, only wrapping her arms around his neck as he took her lips. Luckily the kiss was very tender and slow so it was easy to part when they needed to. But she wasn't unaffected, her lips gently throbbing as they still felt his on them.

Without a word, Castle took his wife's hand and led her to the door as she grabbed her bag on the way. When they were out in the hall and he'd locked the room after them he told her, "I would have gone on, but you need to eat." At her look he shook his head saying, "Not going to work my love, you do need to eat."

Sighing though it wasn't really with much rancor since she knew he was right, Beckett took his hand and led him to the main staircase. As they were going down she took her camera out to take a picture, turning back to take one of the bird with a crest on its chest at the newel post. "I don't mind history," she told Castle since he was watching her with a smile when she took his hand again and he led the way.

"Neither do I and I think you'll love this," he told her as they came to a room and he spoke with an employee. "I called ahead," he said as they entered a room and he let her inside first again. "To make sure we would have this ready so we can go straight to town."

Looking around the library Beckett said, "I'm surprised they let you have this here."

"I thought so too, but this was available, so I took it," Castle said as they sat on either side of a table in armchairs. He paid the employee after he'd poured their tea and told her, "I got chamomile, I wasn't sure about the other teas they had."

Beckett merely nodded as she poured some honey into her mug and waited for him to finish getting his cup before they tapped them together. "Do you want to talk about tomorrow?" she asked him as she took a sandwich from the bottom tier that was on the table.

"Actually I would. I didn't mention this, but they have a car rental agency company, classic cars," Castle told her as he began eating the other sandwich there was.

"How classic?" Beckett asked, not really surprised he'd taken advantage of that information.

"An MG B Roadster, from 1970," Castle told her. "And it's a convertible."

"Which you made sure it was," Beckett said with a smile. "So where are we heading?"

"I was thinking Blarney Castle first," Castle said. "And then we can head to the westernmost point in the country from there, which is called Dunmore Head. They have picnic lunches available here at the hotel; I ordered one to take."

At his hesitation, Beckett said, "You know me pretty well Rick; I think I can trust you in your choice. Obviously we're eating there. And then?"

"We could take a while to drive back, stopping in some towns maybe, if you'd like," Castle said. "Or we could try the pool they have inside here."

"I say we come back and spend more time in that room," Beckett replied, not looking at him as she was reaching for lemon curd on the middle tier. She then allowed herself to glance at him, not surprised that he was just watching her, and she said, "So we're in agreement, great."

"Yes we are," Castle said, shaking himself as quickly as he could as he took the other lemon curd. "And I actually ordered a second picnic, for dinner; we can eat on the grounds."

Smiling at that Beckett said, "They are nice, and I could take some really nice pictures further away, of the manor itself." When her husband nodded they went back to their drinks and food before she said, "Do you know how to drive a stick?"

"I do, a friend of mine from boarding school, his dad taught us," Castle replied. "He said you never knew when you might need to know how. But back to our room, I thought you might want to take these two days to rest a little… relatively speaking."

"I have a chance to rest when we get back home," Beckett replied. "I don't want to miss out on going around and as for our room…"

Glad they were alone in the library; Castle cleared his throat a little and said, "Probably not the best place to finish that thought."

"No," Beckett said with a smile. "So did you do any research on Adare since you have on this place?"

"Yeah, in the travel book," Castle said. When she raised an eyebrow at his hesitation he told her, "It says people call it an English village, because it's so manicured instead of being more natural like a lot of the country is."

"I don't know," Beckett said, thinking that over. "They can't blame people who choose to take care of the village in that way for wanting to. It's their choice… at least if they're the ones that decide to keep their homes as they are."

"I'm not sure," Castle said. "But it should be an interesting village."

"It sounds like it," Beckett replied as she ate a strawberry tart and he took a slice of what looked like a kind of chocolate cake. "I would like to go to the bookstore," she told him. "And what time are we heading into dinner."

Knowing she wasn't asking because she was hungry, but because she wanted to know when she needed to start getting ready for it, Castle replied. "Eight thirty."

"Great, so we have," Beckett replied before looking at her watch. "About four and a half hours to spend there. Think it'll take that long? What I saw on the drive it didn't seem like it."

"No, but we can walk around the grounds," Castle replied.

"Unless," Beckett started to say.

"Unless," Castle prompted her.

"We go to the pool today too," Beckett replied.

"Sure," Castle said immediately. When she just looked at him questioningly he told her, "I'd like to do that."

"I got that from how fast you replied to the suggestion," Beckett said with a smile. "And I'm glad you do, but I'm getting the feeling this has something to do with me in a bathing suit."

"Slightly, are you ready?" Castle asked, seeing she'd finished her tart.

"I am," Beckett said, watching him as she stood. She followed him outside and she immediately started taking pictures before she caught up to where her husband was waiting for her, having walked ahead without her. "You should expect that," she called to him.

"I should," Castle agreed. He was tempted to take her hand, but as they walked a little further down the street before the turn to the manor she stopped again to take another picture. When they were walking again he asked, "Do you always carry your camera like that?" since the strap was wrapped tightly around her wrist.

"It's easier for me than having it around my neck," Beckett said. "My dad always was a little… bewildered that I would hold it like this," she commented. "But it was what was comfortable for me," she continued with a shrug. She looked to their left and asked with a smile. "You're sure you didn't decide to stay here because of the golf course?"

"I'm sure, I did see it though, and I think it's pretty promising," Castle said. "But I'll pass this time. Does your dad play?"

"Sometimes," Beckett said. "Ask him if we come back if he'll play with you. He might want to, if for no other reason than because it's in such a gorgeous setting," Beckett told him, looking back though the manor wasn't in view by then.

"Okay?" Castle asked when she turned to him.

"I'm fine," Beckett said with a smile. She was surprised when he handed her a sprig of yellow flowers. "Is this just because of the honeymoon mood we have right now?" she asked as she leaned against him while he wrapped his arm around her.

"Not really, just a spur of the moment thing," Castle said simply. "Okay, I asked the reception and I'd like to take you around to see some of the houses."

"And the locals wouldn't be irritated with us doing that?" Beckett asked. When he shook his head she nodded and said, "Lead on." Walking by some of those houses that had thatched roofs and were sometimes painted colors, she found she wasn't sure she could agree with the comment about it being English as it still felt like Ireland though nature wasn't as natural as they'd seen so far. She just didn't feel like it was a different country and as she and Castle walked to the main street she was relieved when he agreed with the sentiment.

Finding the bookstore after they'd reached the street was easy, and Castle was following his wife inside before they split up. As they'd discussed on the way to the store, he went to the kids' books that time, with the request by Beckett to try and find something for Julia and the baby.

Beckett was at the history books, glancing around what there was to offer before she found herself in the mystery section. There were a few of her husband's books there, the first three Nikki Heat books, and she glanced at them for a moment before moving on to the rest. She saw a few titles, and grabbed them before finding Castle still at the children's books. "I found two," she told him.

"Any of-" Castle started to ask.

"The first three Heat books," Beckett interrupted him. She smiled when he did and shook her head saying, "Look at these."

"And here are for our kids," Castle told her, handing her the three books he'd found.

Beckett was able to approve of the books quickly, just looking at the covers, and she waited for Castle to finish reading the summary of the last book. She let him take the three she was holding, and as he went to pay she looked at a book on County Limerick; where they were at the moment; until he came over to her with a bag. She took him outside by the arm and once they were down the street a little she reached into her bag, getting the flowers he'd given her.

"Here," Castle said, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket before he opened the longest book to the middle. Setting the fabric there, he watched as she put the flowers in before closing the book carefully. Before they could continue, he wrapped his arm around her, bringing her to him as he kissed her.

Though there were people walking around them, Beckett held the book in one arm and with the other held her husband around his neck. The kiss was very slow, and when they parted she smiled a little saying, "Keep going?"

"Probably better to," Castle said with a nod before he took her hand, entwining their fingers. Walking down the street and looking at the colorful shop fronts he asked, "You don't want to take pictures?"

"Of course, but on the other side," Beckett said. "When we're heading back. Is there anywhere you want to go?" she asked him.

"You took care of asking already," Castle replied, nodding back to the bookstore.

"What about something for Alexis?" Beckett asked.

"Like what?" Castle said.

"Well… here," Beckett said quickly when they came to a Celtic themed store. She took him inside and said, "Would she like anything here?"

"She might," Castle said. "Maybe a necklace?"

"What about a bracelet?" Beckett then suggested.

"Let's see," Castle replied with a nod after thinking about that. He went with her over to the jewelry and glancing at the selection got a worker to open the case it was in. Holding a bracelet up; silver with a Celtic knot at the top; he told his wife, "This one."

"It's why I let you look," Beckett said simply.

"Do you want anything?" Castle asked, after the employee took the bracelet to the register.

"I'm fine, but I think your mother would like that book of Oscar Wilde's plays," Beckett said, seeing it on a shelf. She grabbed it and followed her husband to the register, a little surprised when the woman Castle paid congratulated them about their baby. When they left with the items in a bag she turned to him before they continued down the street, but before she could ask, he spoke first.

"I had Alexis put it on my site," Castle said. "Remember I asked you about that?" When she just looked at him he said slowly, "You were waking up from a nap. Are you mad I did that?"

"No, I'm just a little surprised that you have fans over here too," Beckett told him with a smile. "And they should know, they're going to wonder why your little about the author blurb will say you're married to me in our book."

"Now that you reminded me about that, we should ask your dad and my mom if they've had anyone from the city calling about our announcement," Castle said while they were continuing down the street. He squeezed her hand as he looked down at her left hand and said, "I love you, you know."

"I'm aware of it," Beckett replied, wrapping her arm around him and leaning against him. "And I love you too Rick. Let's hurry."

"You want to hurry? We have time to…" Castle started to say when he looked at his watch and saw they had a lot of time left still. But then he realized why she said that, and he grinned saying, "You know you're right, let's get going."

Beckett smiled back and let him let her go to take her hand again as they walked down the street, looking at the names of restaurants and shops as they passed them by, trying to go quickly to return to the manor.

* * *

"Thank you so much," Beckett said after handing the stamped postcard to the employee across the counter. When she went back to where Castle was waiting for her she told him, "It'll be there on Thursday."

"Great, I was afraid there was no way to get it there before their first day of school," he replied as he held the door open for her. "Other side of the street?" Castle asked his wife. When she merely looked at him he smiled and said, "Someone came up to me, asked how you were doing and congratulated us."

"I'm just glad there hasn't been a negative reaction," Beckett commented, though that was only the second one to their news that they knew of. "Let's hope back home things will be alright."

"They will, they're not taking Julia into the city," Castle said. Since they had crossed by then he watched his wife take pictures before he said quietly, "I have to wonder why Tyson didn't just reveal everything to Gates. He had the chance."

"I don't think he thought we would bother taking him seriously if everything was out in the open like that," Beckett said. "But he's a psychopath so I wouldn't put too much thought into what's going through his mind." She reached over and took his hand saying comfortingly, "They'll be okay."

"They will," Castle said before he pushed the subject out of his mind. "So have you thought about getting something for them?"

"I have, but what? Espo is nearly impossible, Lanie… maybe a blanket too, but I'd have to find the right one. And actually I think I know what to get Ryan and Jenny," Beckett replied as she knew who he meant by them.

"Well, Esposito, what about a dagger letter opener, does he open letters?" Castle asked.

"He does," Beckett said with a slight laugh. "That might work, if he protests we'll tell him we couldn't find anything else."

"We'll still look for him until we go back," Castle said to her, not surprised when she nodded in agreement. "And the St. Brigid's cross for Ryan and Jenny right?"

"You read my mind," Beckett said teasingly as they were on The Avenue going back to the manor. She leaned down as they were on the other side of the road, and picked a white flower before her husband hurried to get it into the book where the other flowers were being pressed, kissing the inside of her wrist as he took it.

"You know, speaking of Ryan and Jenny, didn't he mention, way back after that Christmas before Julia, that they were going to try to have a baby?" Castle asked her when they'd walked in silence for a few moments.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I talked with her about it at the wedding," Beckett told him. "She actually mentioned how I was literally glowing," she continued, rolling her eyes. "Never thought that was possible, I'm sure I was just very happy. Anyways, I asked her about it, and she reminded me how she caught pneumonia right after the New Year."

"That's right, forgot about that," Castle said. "She took a while to recover didn't she?"

"It's why she went to Florida for the rest of spring, since the weather was so much better there," Beckett told him. "But while she was down there, her sisters went down for a visit, and when she told them about her and Ryan wanting to try again they warned her about having a baby before they were ready."

"In what way?" Castle asked, trying to figure that out but unable to. "They couldn't have meant emotionally."

"No, they were sure she and Ryan were ready to become parents; they could handle it. What they warned her about was what it would cost to raise that baby," Beckett told him. "You know they're living in the two bedroom place, but they've talked about it already, and they want more than one kid."

"How many?" Castle queried.

"Just two," Beckett said. "But Jenny said she managed to convince him to leave the idea of a third out in the open, though at the moment, they're going to say two if asked. So they need money to move, to pay for all the things a baby needs, college funds. That was enough to convince her since you know both her sisters have kids already."

"I know, but is she ready to try now?" Castle said, looking at her as they turned the corner of the road and were approaching the manor.

"She's going to talk about moving with him, and then they'll see if they're completely ready for that step," Beckett said.

"She's jealous isn't she?" Castle asked.

"Doubly so since I adopted Julia," Beckett said. "But yeah, she was asking me if we were ready, I deflected, because I wasn't sure. I have some money but…"

"You'll have more, we'll both get paid remember?" Castle told her.

"Right, but are we set so far for a baby?" Beckett asked him.

"We are, we have the college fund opened and already a little money in there so far," Castle reminded her. "And as for money for everything else, yes, there's enough, there'll be more once _Hamptons Heat_ comes out, plus royalties, the new book, all of that. So we're set. Has that been worrying you?"

"No, I forgot about it until now in relaxing after rushing before the wedding," Beckett said with a slight laugh before they entered the house, greeting the man at the door again before they headed up to their room.

Gathering their things to swim, Castle carried the bag for his wife though she teased him about treating her as if she were made of glass as he did so. He reacted to that by squeezing her hand, knowing she was afraid of needing to be helped that much as she got further along into her pregnancy. He had told her already he didn't think she'd need that assistance, but could only say it once as she knew that already. So he took her down to the first floor where the pool was, changing and leaving their things in a locker before they went into the room to get lounge chairs.

"It's a beautiful room," Beckett said, looking at the skylights that comprised the roof.

"And the water's warm. Excuse me love," Castle told her before he dove into the water. Resurfacing he wasn't surprised to see his wife doing the same and told her, "I get the feeling sometimes you like swimming as much as Julia does."

"Of course, especially since my parents' building had a pool when I was a kid. I couldn't ride horses, but I could swim," Beckett said simply before they swam together to the other end and she climbed out. They were the only people in the room at that point of the day, which she appreciated as Castle's hands held her around the waist as she was about to go in the water again. "What?" she laughed slightly.

"Nothing," Castle said quickly, letting her go. "I forgot ladies first." He watched her dive before he quickly followed when she was out of the way, and coming back up, was a little surprised when he found water being splashed into his face. "What?" he asked as she got closer to him.

"You pervert, you just wanted to touch me," Beckett replied, tossing her wet hair back over her shoulder.

"Oh come on," Castle said. But when his wife just gave him a look he sighed saying, "Okay, so maybe I did, you can't blame me for that."

"Just watch how far you go," Beckett said, though there was a smile on her face as she pointed at him. She rolled her eyes when he saluted, and she ducked under the water. She playfully kicked at him as he tugged her leg briefly, and let him swim ahead of her a little before she was jumping out of the water as far as she could go, grabbing for him as he tried to get out of her way. She wasn't too surprised when he then wrapped his arms around her, kissing her, and she reached behind her to grab to railing on the ladder before they parted.

"You want out?" Castle asked, watching her closely.

"Yep, I forgot to look at the view," Beckett said. She climbed out, and went to the windows at the end of the room, seeing they looked out on part of the golf course, a few men in the distance. She was surprised when all of a sudden her husband was pulling her away, "What, are you my dad now?" she asked.

"I don't think you're aware of what you look like in that bikini," Castle told her.

"Really? They're pretty far away," Beckett said, though she was teasing him. "Don't be so possessive Rick."

For a moment Castle was worried that he was being that way, but then looking at her he said, "I don't want them to see you as an object. Or get sick in the pool seeing them ogle my pregnant wife."

"Thank you, now, swim," Beckett replied, touched by his last words though she didn't want that either. She jumped back into the pool, and they stayed in for a while after that, swimming back and forth and even playing a quick game of Marco Polo that her husband ended when he ditched the rules and swam to her with his eyes open. Eventually she was sitting on the edge of the pool on the side the wall was, watching him swimming in laps, no one joining them in that whole time. She had been sitting up, when on one of his turns her head jerked forward and she quickly woke herself up with that. "Love," she called to him when he neared her on his next pass.

"Going to get back in?" Castle asked as he held onto the edge next to her, idly treading the water.

"No, I'm going to sit, watch the view from my chair," Beckett told him.

"Alright sir, ma'am?" a voice called from the doorway to the room.

"Actually, think we can get something to drink?" Castle asked the employee looking in on them.

"Of course," the man said, coming closer.

"I'll have some orange juice," Beckett said.

"The same for me," Castle said. "I figure lying down for a little once those drinks come would be nice," he told his wife when the man left.

"It will, I'll be at my chair," Beckett said with a smile before she leaned down as he pushed himself up out of the pool. They kissed briefly since she knew he couldn't stay in that position for long and she stood up as he started to go around the pool again, drying off before she put on the robe she'd brought. The hotel worker soon returned with two glasses, and she took hers, handing him a tip as Castle had brought money with them just in case. She looked out the windows in front of her as she lay back in her chair, sipping her juice until she couldn't fight it anymore. Setting the glass on the little table between the chairs, she settled back, closing her eyes for just a second.

Getting out of the pool, Castle went over to his chair, starting to dry himself off before he turned to Beckett. He had been about to speak when he saw she was asleep, smiling as he knew she had to be exhausted. He sat down on the edge of her chair, running the backs of his fingers over her cheek.

Unknown to him, a woman had come inside the room, recognizing him as she had read his books. She was going to go over to him, to ask for an autograph, when he started to speak.

"Morning love, nice nap?" Castle asked, feeling a little guilty when she opened her eyes.

"It was nice," Beckett said, sitting up a little more. She smiled and said, "I really hate this."

"It might ease up eventually," Castle assured her. "But at least you feel better now right?"

"I'll be fine to go to dinner," Beckett said wryly, watching him as he opened her robe. She looked on as he leaned over to press a kiss to her abdomen telling him, "You are lucky I don't mind you doing that."

Raising his head, Castle saw the back of a woman leaving, and for a brief second he wondered how much she'd seen. But he turned his attention to his wife telling her, "I think I'd find out pretty quickly if you didn't." He laid his hand over her stomach, gently caressing it before she cupped his cheek. When she turned his head to her, he leaned down quickly, capturing her lips with his own.

Beckett parted her lips slowly as Castle slipped his tongue into her mouth, and she carefully reached up with her own to caress his slowly, gently. She wasn't surprised when he quickly responded to that, both her hands on his cheeks by then before they moved away at the same time to get some air. Biting her lower lip gently, she whispered, "You do that to me so easily."

"Do what?" Castle whispered, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Hmm, turn me on," Beckett said simply. She couldn't help the short laugh that escaped her lips then, and said, "I don't do that to you?"

Knowing that was a rhetorical question since she had known the answer for a long time, Castle merely smirked and kissed her again, slowly, sensuously before he pulled away. "Tonight Kate," he told her, searching her eyes.

Biting her lower lip for a moment, Beckett said quickly, "Tonight, we won't need to hold back you know."

"I know, we'll wake up at nine or ten; give ourselves all night if we want," Castle said. He shared a kiss with her then before laying down on his chair after putting on his robe he'd brought, and they drank their juice as they watched the view, talking about their work redecorating their home.

When they had finished their drinks, they put on their clothes over their swimsuits before leaving. They delayed the trip a little by looking at the Minstrel's Gallery, which was a banqueting hall, and then returned to their room to get ready for dinner. The first step in that was to take a quick shower to rinse off and exchange a few, quick kisses under the water before they literally had to wrench themselves apart which they were finally able to accomplish.

Looking in the mirror above the desk after he'd dressed in the bedroom, Castle straightened the lapel of his jacket before he looked out the window nearest to him. He could see people coming from the golf course as it was nearly dark, and he checked his watch to see if they were going to run late for their reservation. Just as he was turning to see if his wife was ready, the door to the bathroom opened and she stepped out.

"What? I took too long?" Beckett asked, smiling as Castle's gaze roamed her form a few times.

"Not really," he was able to say as she went to the mirror above the desk then. He went to her as she put on her aquamarine earrings and said, "You look stunning love."

Looking at his reflection, Beckett turned to him and said, "I don't know, I've worn this before," as she smoothed down the bodice of her dress; the same she'd worn on Mother's Day and to their supposed blind date.

"But you brought it with you, so you're aware already that I like it," Castle said. "That's the only dress you have on you isn't it?"

"Are we going to another upscale restaurant?" Beckett asked him.

"I wasn't planning on it," Castle said.

"Great, because you're right, that's the only one I have with me," Beckett replied.

"Then if we decide to go out like we are tonight, you'll just have to wear it again," Castle said with a shrug. He laughed when his wife pushed him slightly and he took her hand asking, "Ready?"

"I am," Beckett replied. Since he had their room key, and they weren't going to be too far from their room, all she took was a shawl in case he wanted to take her outside. As she waited for him to lock the door, she asked, "Have you looked into this place?"

"I did when I was looking at the site for the manor itself. It's contemporary Irish with some classical influences. I took a look at the menu they have there, it seems interesting," Castle told her as they went down the stairs. On the walk to the restaurant, they passed other couples, and when the people would watch them he muttered to his wife, "I think someone here found out who we are."

"More than likely," Beckett said as she didn't get the feeling they were looking at them in any kind of negative way; just out of curiosity. When they stepped inside, she was surprised that the restaurant was only lit by candles, but it made it more romantic as she could see by the number of parties there of only two. She murmured a thank you to her husband when he helped her into her chair at their table by a window, looking out at the river the manor was next to before she took her menu. "I wasn't expecting this," she said after they'd given their drink orders.

"I know, the pictures they have don't show it all at night," Castle commented. "Okay, so how hungry are you?"

"It was better we went swimming, I'm actually starving," Beckett said with a smile. Looking at the list of starters she said, "I'm surprised you didn't want to try the eight course tasting meal."

"I was tempted; they have it on the site," Castle said. He had to pause when the waiter returned with their drinks, and after they'd ordered the first part of their meal told her, "I didn't want to eat so much I was asleep the second I hit the bed."

"Thank you for that," Beckett said, looking at the three middle courses offered. She tried not to bite her lip as she remembered their brief shower together, the way he'd held her and kissed her under the water. She then realized she shouldn't be thinking of that at that second, and she quickly said, "What are you thinking of getting for the middle course?"

"The sorbet," Castle said, having put down his menu to watch her. He was amused as he could easily see what she'd been thinking about, and he said, "Do you still want to try out the tub?"

About to kick him for that; though not hard; Beckett was relieved when the waiter came with their appetizers and took their orders for the middle courses and the main course. Luckily she hadn't been so distracted with her thoughts she hadn't paid attention to that, and ordered the guinea fowl before her husband ordered the Irish beef, surprising her as she hadn't thought he'd looked through the menu that far yet himself. When they were left alone again, she was relieved to delay her answer as they ate before she said, "I would. But I forgot to ask you something about the car, would I be able to drive it at all?" not caring that she was so obviously moving to another subject that quickly.

Smiling at that, Castle replied, "If you know how to drive a stick I can ask, would you want to drive to the castle or maybe from where we'll have lunch to back here?"

"Better we figure that out tomorrow once we know if I can drive too," Beckett said. When he gave her a look that seemed to say she hadn't needed to ask her question really, she said, "Your plans for tomorrow might not take that long."

"Well, I thought wherever we are at Dunmore's Head you'll want to take pictures, and like I mentioned before, we could stop at towns coming back; or even going to," Castle replied as their plates were taken away and the middle course served. "We'll see what happens. Are you enjoying the food?"

"I think that's pretty apparent," Beckett replied. At that they ate in silence for a few minutes before she said, "Do you remember the first time you took a date out to a restaurant like this?"

"It was Le Circe," Castle told her. "Oh, speaking of that, we really should go now we don't have to worry about being seeing, we can sit wherever we want to."

"Next time we're in the city," Beckett told him.

"And yeah, I remember that date, because it was with Meredith," Castle commented. "The food was great, but she was driving me insane because her play she was in had her speaking like Greta Garbo, and Kate? She wasn't that good, she slipped into some accent that was like a mix between Greek and Italian, it was bizarre. But you know, Le Circe isn't as romantic as this."

"I'm surprised you never brought anyone here," Beckett commented as she took a sip of her drink.

"To Ireland? Yeah, I don't know why it never occurred to me to vacation here before that trip six years ago," Castle said, thinking as they were waiting for their main course. "I guess everywhere else caught my attention first, but hey, I haven't been to Spain either."

"That never was one of the places you wanted to visit?" Beckett asked.

"Not really, but I'm kind of glad for that, we get to share it together with the kids when we go," Castle told her.

"That's true," Beckett said with a slight laugh before their dishes were set in front of them.

When he'd taken a few bites of his food and he and his wife had shared bites of each other's dishes, Castle asked, "How's yours?"

"Good, and I'm assuming yours is the same. What do you really want to ask?" Beckett said. She smiled slightly when he paused taking a sip of wine, and she said, "I'm getting pretty close to actually reading your mind," teasing him.

"I think you can," Castle said, taking a quick sip before he set down the glass. "Where is the one place you've always wanted to go to in the world? Tell me and I'll take you there." He was surprised when his wife didn't say anything to that, looking at her glass of ginger ale before she turned her gaze up to him and smiled. "Oh come on, there's no way," he protested.

"You don't know this about my mother, but she used to come here when she was younger, for about six years from age three to nine she would come with her parents," Beckett replied. "When I begged her to tell me about those summer vacations I was… so completely enchanted by what she described that I wanted to see it for myself. But never have been able to until now. And I never said as I didn't to pressure you into bringing me here."

"It's not something I was expecting," Castle said. "And I was almost going to take you to England."

"I'm sure we'll go there too," Beckett said as they tapped glasses suddenly. "We should take Julia to Liverpool."

"Should," Castle said, smiling. "I think we have to, plus I'd like to go myself, see the sites, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Paul's house."

"We'd have to see if we could stay there, I get the feeling Julia would want to explore as much of the city as she can," Beckett replied as she smiled, imagining their daughter's reaction to visiting that city.

"So if we ever go to England; hypothetically speaking of course; where would you want to go?" Castle asked then.

Since Beckett asked the same of Castle once she'd answered his question, the two found themselves occupied all through dessert. They even talked about going to Scotland; Castle wanting to go since he was partially Scottish as was Julia; and as they were finishing they discussed Wales a little before they left the restaurant to go outside.

"That was a pretty good dinner," Castle commented as they were walking along the river, her hand holding onto his upper arm.

"Pretty good, I'm stuffed," Beckett said.

"That's a rich meal for a baby," Castle said, glancing down at her abdomen. "Though I get the feeling it enjoyed the ice creams you got for dessert."

"And the berries and cream I ate of your dessert," Beckett said, shaking her head with a smile as he'd had her try it. "But I think it's still too small to really be aware of anything."

"You're seven weeks now aren't you?" Castle asked, watching her.

"A little over that," Beckett replied with a nod. "Which means next Wednesday I'll be two months," she said with a slight intake of air.

"Is that a problem?" Castle said.

"No, it's more of a shock," Beckett confessed. "Once I'm showing I won't act like this, I promise."

"I don't care," Castle said, shrugging his shoulders. "Want to sit?" he asked as they'd come to a red bench on the path between the manor and the river.

"Let's keep walking," Beckett said as she moved her hand so she could take his. "Since we're talking about the baby, I want to bring up something I've wanted to talk to you about but haven't had the chance with how crazy things were with the wedding."

"Sure," Castle said as he took her closer to the river.

"Were you serious about going to my appointments?" Beckett asked him.

"I went with Meredith," Castle told her. "But the first few she didn't really invite me, I asked."

"And that explains the pleading look you had in your eyes and obviously don't remember," Beckett said. "You can come now if you want, but there's not going to be too much to see."  
"I'm not going for that reason," Castle said in slight exasperation. "I'm going because I'm involved too. I mean, granted my work technically stopped after we made love, but I don't really want to just let you raise the baby."

"I know how you are with Alexis, love," Beckett said, touching his arm. "And I can't imagine you wouldn't want to be involved in this baby's life either. It just surprises me."

"Okay, so I can go with you right?" Castle asked to make sure. When she nodded he said, "Great, now, we've had a nice walk," as by then they had turned back to the manor. "And we can sit for a little," he told her as he took her to the bench he'd wanted to sit on earlier.

Beckett didn't say anything, as she didn't mind doing that, and she already had an idea of why he was so adamant about sitting. So it was little surprise to her when Castle suddenly wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her close as he crushed his lips to hers. She let out a brief moan, and held onto him around his neck as she parted her lips for his searching tongue. She carefully flicked her own against him, and she had to tilt her head suddenly as Castle moved around. It was then she felt his hand on her thigh, over her skirt, but she could still feel the heat from it as it was a little chilly at that moment. Pulling back from his lips, she smiled when he abruptly moved his hand away from her and asked, "You thought I didn't want that?"

"I wasn't sure, but now I am," Castle said simply before he put his hand back on her and began to pull her skirt up a little. With them both watching, he was just about to slip his hand underneath the black fabric, when he jumped as his phone rang once to let him know he had a text. "Crap," he said in obvious frustration.

"We can continue back in the room," Beckett said perturbed too. "Who is it?"

"Alexis, asking if we're going to call," Castle said. "I didn't realize it was ten."

"We should go," Beckett said. She smiled when her husband watched her get up with wide eyes; since her voice was more than a little seductive; and she waited for him to stand before they took each other's hand and went back up to their room. As Castle was busy setting the tablet up for Skype, she looked out the window at what she could see of the view before he got her attention.

"Hey Alexis," Castle said once his daughter was on the screen. "Are we late?"

"No, I was just wondering because Julia wanted to swim for a little in the pool before we eat dinner," the young woman said. "Hey Kate."

"I hope she's behaving while we're gone," Beckett said as she waved to her.

"I'm good Mommy, Daddy," Julia said, appearing at the bottom of the screen. She giggled a little and told them, "Are you?"

"Well, we haven't been arrest-" Castle started to say when Beckett nudged him in the side. "We are," he continued. "So what'd you get up to today?"

"We went out for a picnic," Julia said. "With the other kids 'cause tomorrow they leave."

"That's right, so where did you go?" Beckett asked.

"Where we went before when it was the Fourth of July, that beach," Julia eagerly explained. "Everyone liked it and had fun swimming."

"And you're going to swim in the pool now?" Castle said.

"Yeah, and then Grandpapa said he would help me fly my kite. Alexis will help me too and Gram will watch," Julia answered.

"Sounds like you have your day all set," Beckett commented, leaning against her husband as they were sitting on the bench in front of the bed.

"What about you?" Alexis asked then. "What'd you see today?"

"First we headed to the Cliffs of Moher," Castle said first. "I showed you pictures when I last went. And Kate took a lot of pictures."

"Will we get to see them?" Julia asked hopefully.

"You will, but when we take you to Ireland too we'll go there so you can see," Beckett replied.

"The baby too?" Julia said.

"The baby too," Castle laughed slightly at that. "After that we came to where we are right now, Adare Manor. I don't think we can really describe it," he told them. "So Alexis, take a look at the site if you want to see what it looks like where we are."

"I wanna see, please?" Julia asked her sister.

"After we hang up," Alexis promised.

"Is it a nice place?" Martha asked.

"It's gorgeous," Beckett answered. "I took pictures of the lobby and our room; I'll share them with you too. Once we got settled though we had tea in the library for a late lunch, and then we walked into Adare, the village the manor is by. It's a nice place, some nice stores."

"We got a few things," Castle said, glancing at Julia.

"Thank you," the little girl called.

"Hopefully you'll like them," Beckett replied with a soft laugh. "And after that we then headed back and got dressed for dinner. We ate at the Oakroom Restaurant here at the hotel, it was very nice."

"The food was nice," Castle interjected.

"That too," Beckett agreed. "Then we went outside to walk a little next to the river that runs along the eastern part of the manor before coming back to the room to talk with you."

"Sounds like you had a romantic night," Jim said in the background.

"It was," Castle said with a nod. "And just to let you know, we're staying here another day, so we'll probably call the same time as we might rest a little." He didn't jump when Beckett lightly pinched the side of his arm, since he knew she didn't believe him for a second.

"Oh, we forgot about the pool," Beckett said as she abruptly remembered. "We went swimming today too sweetie, there's an indoor swimming pool here. We went after we came back from the village."

"Did you take pictures?" Julia asked eagerly.

"I didn't take my camera," Beckett said apologetically.

"There's a picture on the site," Castle pointed out. "Okay, we'll let you go so you can swim in our pool sweetheart," he told the little girl. He then said goodnight to his mother, Beckett's father and Alexis before saying, "Night Julia, I love you."

"Love you Daddy, see you tomorrow!" the little girl replied, waving.

"I love you too sweetie, night," Beckett said to her then.

"Night Mommy, love you, hope you have fun!" Julia then cried, waving to her as well.

When the screen went dark Beckett sighed and leaned against her husband saying, "She looks like she's having fun."

"She is, she stopped saying she missed us… I bet you Alexis told her we knew already," Castle commented.

"More than likely," Beckett said with a smile.

"Tired, love?" Castle asked, watching her then.

"No, are you?" Beckett asked in reply as he stood up. She took his hand and slid into his embrace easily, taking his gentle kiss before they parted, walking together into the bathroom.

* * *

Rolling up the sleeves of his shirt after he'd gotten the cuffs unbuttoned, Castle walked around the tub until he was facing his wife. "You look like an empress," he commented as she looked at him without moving from where she was leaning against the back of the tub, her arms over the sides.

"Thank you for saying empress," Beckett said. "Aren't you going to join in?" she inquired of him as he started to kneel.

"Join in?" Castle asked slowly as he watched her, paused in mid-kneel.

Sitting up then, Beckett slid her hand along the edge of the tub until she reached him whispering, "Take off your clothes Rick." When he didn't really react in blatant surprise, her arousal suddenly spiked, everything in her body starting to throb as she realized they were likely going to be sharing dominance that night. She sat back against the tub as she watched him unbutton his shirt and before starting on his trousers after pulling his shirt out of it. As he was doing that, her gaze went to her left, where there was a full-length mirror, watching his reflection as she bit her lower lip.

Seeing his wife watching him undress in the mirror was incredibly arousing, and Castle thanked whoever's idea it had been to put that kind of mirror there. He wasn't too surprised when she turned to him when he was done, reaching out and taking a hold of his erection, stroking it a few times as he had to lean his knees against the side of the tub for support lest he fall gracelessly into the water. "Love…" he nearly hissed at her as she gently tugged at him.

"Come into the tub," Beckett said, moving to go to the other side of it as he immediately stepped in. She waited for him to settle back as she'd been sitting before he'd come into the room, and then got on his lap, throwing her arms around him. As she kissed him, she ran her hand over the back of his head, fighting carefully with his tongue before they went into her mouth together. When she had to breathe, she pulled back and cupped his cheeks in her hands, about to kiss him again when he stopped her. "What's wrong?" she asked, a little surprised.

"Turn around, get on your knees," Castle said, not commanding her but requesting.

Beckett knew right away what he wanted to do, so she turned around for him, and pushing her hair back waited for him to take the showerhead attachment in hand before he ran the water over her. She shivered as the first drops slid down her back, and his hand followed them. When he turned off the water, she looked over her shoulder at him and said, "If we go swimming again tomorrow-"

"I'll do the same thing," Castle said simply as he sat up on his knees behind her, starting to rub the shampoo she had brought through her darkened hair. "Unless you have a problem with that?"

Not replying to that, Beckett concentrated on the feel of his fingers over her scalp, and she was so preoccupied she abruptly felt the fingers of his other hand sliding down her mound. "Hmm, so you just wanted to distract me?" she asked, leaning back against him as he moved his hand away from her head.

"I just wanted to have the chance to do this," Castle murmured simply before he began to rinse off her hair. He ran his fingers after the water yet again, and at the ends of them, he ran the very tips of his fingers over her damp skin. Leaning over, he kissed her shoulder, flicking his tongue out to gather the liquid on it before pulling back. "So I don't think you would have a problem with me doing this tomorrow would you?" he whispered as he kissed the shell of her ear.

Looking over her shoulder, Beckett reached back and brushed her fingertips over his lips saying, "You already knew when you asked."

"Of course," Castle commented simply before he finished with her hair after applying conditioner and taking a considerable amount of time running his fingers through her locks again. When he had finished, he helped her turn around to him and getting a washcloth wet and lathered with soap he proceeded to wash her body from head to toe until she stood up in front of him.

During that, Beckett felt as if her senses were heightened, and every touch of his fingers as he washed her abdomen thoroughly seemed to echo inside of her. She was heavily aroused as he ran his fingers with the water to rinse her off, and she ran her fingers through his hair as he pressed his cheek to her stomach. When he'd washed her feet last; kissing the tops of them when he'd finished; she got down on her knees once more, wrapping her arms around him before kissing him hungrily. With him distracted, she managed to get the still soapy washcloth out of his hand and began to rub it over his back.

Jumping slightly away from her, Castle felt another pass of soap over his skin, and he let go of her to allow her to begin to rub his flesh slowly. He was breathing hard as she washed him from the waist up, then he took the washcloth before she could go lower, and tossed it aside. Staring into each other's eyes, they leaned into one another and he kissed her deeply while he cupped her cheeks in his hands. Their lips crushed together and he tilted his head back and forth as she was so eager in his arms. He reached down into the water and gently touched her clit, feeling how swollen it was already. "Should we go?" he asked, waiting for her response.

"I think we're fine where we are," Beckett said with a smile, leaning over and brushing her lips against his. When she had pulled away, she let him help her straddle his lap as she raised herself above him. Kissing him again like before, she lowered herself, breathing in a gasp before their hips met. Going so slowly she felt the shivers of pleasure that snapped through her body and she paused, not sure what he wanted; if it was the same as her. "I want to fuck you Rick," she whispered to him, cupping his face in her hands and looking into his eyes.

"Oh thank god, I wanted to do the same to you," Castle breathed out in relief as he let his hands span the small of her back. He was startled when instead of starting though; she leaned over and whispered into his ear, "You'll have your chance after." Leaning his head back far enough to be able to see her face, he was startled when his wife's expression was serious, and he couldn't stop himself, bringing her to him for a hungry kiss that seemed to last forever. He never knew which of them had started, but soon they were moving together, thrusting roughly right away as they brushed their hands over the backs of each other's heads repeatedly before they were stopping and moving apart enough to catch their breaths.

Beckett, looking at her husband intently, carefully moved against him, making an upward motion with her hips that nearly had her gasping for air again. The motion made her brush her clit against his skin, and she tightened her grip on her husband as he slid his hands then to her waist, watching her. She leaned down to press her lips against the top of his head which made him tilt his head back. She suddenly stopped, her body screaming to her not to do that; which she ignored though not without difficulty; and told him, "How?"

"What?" Castle asked, startled as he hadn't been expecting that at all.

"Which way do you want me to move?" Beckett inquired again. "Like this," she told him, rocking against him. "Or this," she said, breathing a little heavier as she moved her body up and down on him, feeling his erection sliding easily against her sex. "Or this," she nearly whispered as she rolled her hips against him.

Castle, studying her as she'd done that, took her hips and made her roll them, groaning in pleasure before she took up the rhythm she'd had before stopping, and he was hurrying to catch up to her. The difference in the ways their bodies were moving that way led him to feel that in his length, and his reaction to that was quick to manifest itself into a quick burst of what he could only describe as unadulterated electricity. As he took her breasts with her encouragement, he focused everything on what she felt like around him. She was tight, very wet with arousal, and moving; always moving. That last one meant the friction between them was intense as they had easily gotten to fucking again, and he was almost too eager with her breasts. She hissed, and he felt horrible, as he'd discovered the morning before they were beginning to grow tender. So he quickly pulled away and brushed the lightest kisses he possibly could over the mounds, murmuring his apology before she made him stop.

Beckett wondered how he could find the wherewithal to apologize while they were busy making love as roughly as they were with each other by then. But as she tilted his head up to hers, it meant a great deal to her that he hadn't ignored her discomfort since discovering it. She cupped the back of his neck, gently fingering the edge of his hair and feeling him shuddering against her. She wasn't sure why, but the sound of the water against the sides of the tub reached her ears for the first time, and she moved away to look down and watch it moving. She felt her husband's lips against her cheek and she bit her lower lip as she turned to him, feeling at the same time his hands come up on her back to press her close. As they kissed, her attention was further taken by what they were doing to her body together, it was pleasure, in the form of heat from the friction between them, and it was rising in her form, mingling with every other satisfaction she felt, all over her. It was a fire, she was on fire, and as she kissed him back roughly the echoing waves from where they were coupled were making her sweat lightly, making her moan against Castle's mouth, making her move away from him in the middle of their kiss, wanting to see him and not just feel him suddenly.

Following the direction his wife's gaze went, Castle was a little surprised that she was looking straight down between them, wondering what she was seeing. But as he reached down to touch her clit; he was startled when she rushed his hand down the rest of the way to it. Her whispered command to him to play with the swollen nub had him shuddering hard once before he set himself to the task. He flicked his first two fingertips against it, and then used the pads of both fingers to rub in a circle around it slowly before she suddenly leaned back. Looking up to watch her, he was distracted by the way she was moving herself, her hands on his thighs. She was arching her back with her thrusts, and though she was moaning heavily in response to the change in the position what she felt with the way his length was in her, he felt himself becoming even more aroused as she still had her eyes on where they were coupled, where his hand was idly touching her. He tried to put the pleasure roaring through him out of his mind, and went back to fondling the apex of her mound.

Breathing heavily as his fingertips were slowly stroking her, Beckett knew she wasn't going to last for much longer, the shocks of heat shooting through her manifesting into throbbing around his erection almost making her feel oversensitive. Though she didn't want to, she made herself sit up, and she fell a little into Castle, kissing her husband eagerly as he was quick to wrap his arms around her, running them over her skin before she moved away from him, crying out his name repeatedly as she tensed up for a brief moment. Her nails in his shoulders, she could feel her husband following her with his own climax, and with the added sensation of that, she was abruptly thrown into another, barely before the first finished, making her clutch at him so tightly that she was afraid she was going to stop breathing. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she had to wonder if it was such a bad way to suffocate, feeling the rushing of her blood through her, her throbbing sex around him and pure ecstasy coiling all through her for so long she didn't even realize she was crying out to her husband, begging him; though he heard clearly.

Castle was a little startled to hear what his wife was saying, but at the same time it heightened his arousal, even as he had reached the pinnacle of it. He heard her begging him to fuck her to make her come though he had already done that; and apparently twice; and he nearly followed her to a second peak before he was slowly coming down. Beckett had already done so; slumped against him breathing heavily as he stroked her still wet hair. "Okay?" he asked when he felt stronger.

"Yeah, you?" Beckett asked, finally able to raise her head to look at him. She didn't let him answer, instead kissed him deeply, both of them letting that linger. As they were frantically tilting their heads back and forth, she was startled to feel the faint stirrings of arousal in her already, but put it out of her mind as they took a few breaths of air before he was suddenly laughing. "What?" she asked her husband, startled at that and how that felt with him still inside her, shaking as he was.

"You were begging me you know," Castle told her. When she looked at him in confusion he said, "You don't know what you said?" At her slight shake of her head he couldn't help grin saying, "Wow, you should have heard yourself love." He then reached up and rubbed his thumb over her swollen lower lip and told her, "You have sweet lips, but a very, very naughty tongue."

It was Beckett's turn to smile as she said mockingly, "Naughty? A little juvenile to describe it as that."

"I wasn't the one begging me to fuck their pussy so-" Castle started to say before she covered his mouth. "What, you don't like saying that?"

"I didn't want to hear you say it," Beckett said. She couldn't help laugh when he looked confused at that and told him, "Not when we're like this. Next time you are fucking me, feel free to sound like porn."

"Doesn't work with you Kate," Castle said as he leaned against the back of the tub then, running his hands up and down her sides. He studied her and said, "Yeah, you can be rough, but not that far."

Sighing, Beckett replied, "We should get out, my skin is getting wrinkled."

"Mine isn't, and it's soaked," Castle joked. At her look he helped her off him with a slight wince and followed her out, trying to hurry to get a towel first which he just managed to do. Turning to her, he carefully started drying her off, starting at her abdomen as she smirked a little at him.

"I knew you were going to do that," Beckett teased him after he'd pressed his lips above their baby a few times. She was surprised when he didn't respond to that, looking serious as he worked his way over her body with the towel very carefully and deliberately until he was finally at her feet. She grabbed another towel and began to dry her hair, saying, "I would have done that for you," as her husband was drying himself off.

"It's alright," Castle said quickly before wrapping the towel around his waist. "Better you get dried off…"

"And what is causing this exactly Mr. Castle?" Beckett asked him as she went to him since he was having a hard time closing the towel around himself.

"Well, you were an investigator, I'm sure you could figure it out," he replied simply. He felt a rush of love for her when she looked at him with a raised eyebrow before she forced him to let go of the towel. Watching her regarding his; what felt like; sudden erection, Castle couldn't wait anymore, and he picked her up as well as a towel before carrying her out to the desk.

"Castle the bed-" Beckett started to say before he was tossing the towel on it and then placing her on top of that. She looked up at him before he was suddenly crushing her lips with his own. She forgot her protest against making love there, since he'd thought to bring the towel along, and she instead spread her legs as he placed his hands on her knees. Fighting with his tongue in her mouth, she wrapped her arms around his neck and stroked it a few times before it felt like he was abruptly pulling away from him. "You-" she started to say.

Kissing her to cut her off, Castle made it gentle and a little quick before he went back to what he'd ended the previous kiss for. Brushing his lips over her breasts gently, he was relieved when a soft moan escaped her mouth and lingered there doing that repeatedly a few times, until he realized that his wife was moving a little on the desktop. Pulling back to watch her, he saw that Beckett had her legs crossed tightly and he moved to spread them apart. "So what exactly is the meaning of this Ms. Beckett," he teased her.

Pressing her lips together as she was struggling not to smile but at the same time was still feeling arousal course through her form from his touch, Beckett said, "You need to find that out, now."

The firm tone of her voice on the word now spurred Castle into action, and he got on his knees, bringing her all the way to the edge of the desk for better access. He could see very well how much she had become aroused, and was relieved that they were both even in that. He had planned to pleasure her to orgasm, but something changed, and instead he went to her clit, lapping a little at it with the very tip of his tongue a few times before pulling it away. He proceeded to lick and everywhere he could, soon having the direction of his wife to help him along. When he felt he had done enough, he got up and standing, leaned over so he could brace himself with one hand against the wall next to the mirror since he was a little too tall. He slammed into her, nearly knocking her back against the wall, luckily having his free hand to hold her in place before that happened.

"Oh! Oh Rick… please fuck me, I want to feel you… yes, fucking me!" Beckett cried out in complete joy as he was getting deep inside of her. She had to angle her hips a little strangely to compensate for his height compared to the desk, but it made him move inside her at an angle, and the results of that were making the friction rough and feel different. She was moving with him, holding onto him as she had her arms reaching up over his shoulders to have a little leverage. She was feeling her clit being smashed between them as he came down into her, and that feeling of being on fire was filling her, making her cry out and rake her nails over his skin. For some reason, things were a lot more intense than their time in the tub, and she couldn't say why exactly why, but decided, as he leaned down to kiss her, that it didn't really matter. All that did was that he was deep and almost harsh within her, and she only wanted more.

Trying not to scratch at the wall with his nails, Castle kept his eyes on his wife, drinking in the sight of her moving so readily with him. He then noticed the way she was trying to move her hips and could tell that she was trying to get him further inside of her. He shuddered in pleasure as he thought of how that would feel, and he leaned down enough to murmur against her lips, "Wrap your legs around me my love, tight."

Breathing roughly, Beckett did as he asked and a short cry slipped out into the space between them; what little there was between them; and she arched her back so they were soon kissing before she murmured, "I can feel you, Rick… your cock is… is so deep." She looked at him, seeing the flare of desire in his eyes though she thought that couldn't be possible, but it gave her a sense of satisfaction though since she usually held back using anything too rough in her language. She ran her hands over the back of his neck since she could reach it, caressing him slowly, carefully there as he jerked harder against her. She worked to match that rhythm and somehow managed to do it. She took her husband's kiss eagerly, working with his tongue to get inside her mouth before she pushed back against him. They were soon fighting with that, and she let him think he was winning before she fought back and there was no resolution as to who had control when they were moving apart from one another to breathe. She looked at him, stroking his cheek, and when he started to kiss her palm she shivered, her legs tightening around him and bringing him further in her.

Watching Beckett's reaction to that, the way her head tilted back and exposed her neck to him was the one that stood out most to him, and he was quick to lean down, kissing at her skin. He paused when he reached her pulse, and nibbled on it before he proceeded to suck, feeling her nails scratching at him in response, her heartbeat racing under his lips. He pulled back before he could make another bruise and brushing his lips against hers, wasn't too surprised when they were quickly embroiled in another kiss at her instigation. His head was literally spinning, as she was suddenly beating out their rhythm against him; her heels digging into his ass. Feeling that, it was swift to mingle with the pleasure she provided enveloping his erection in her deeply, along with her holding onto him, switching between scratching him, and also digging her fingers into his skin as well. The small bursts of electricity were rushing in him, from head to toe, making him wonder how he was still able to stand everything she was giving him. He suddenly wanted to push her over the edge, and he moved to her lips so his were brushing against hers. He was able to talk and he murmured something into her ear, not too surprised when she tensed up for a brief second in response.

Nibbling on her lower lip, Beckett looked at her husband with wide eyes before she said, "You… want me to…" But when she looked into his eyes, she saw he was serious, but also looking at her intently with some adoration in there as well. "Yes… yes, I want you again! Just… make me come now love, I'm going to come!" His response to that was to hold her hips, angling them in just the right way, and suddenly he was ramming into her and simultaneously hitting her clit exactly to get her to lose it. Her ecstasy was harsh but satisfying, making her cry out and almost scream her husband's name repeatedly before she heard her name on his lips. And when she heard him telling her how good she felt in very exact wording, she felt as if her skin was on fire more than it already did. She stroked his back and the back of his head, holding him tightly to her when they began to slow down, though he was the last of them to stop, moving rapidly twice before abruptly ceasing his movements. "Can you move?" she managed to ask as the room was filled with the sound of the night along with their heavy breathing.

"Give me a minute," Castle said, leaning against her. Finally when he felt he was ready, he pulled away from her and then helped her down, taking the towel to try and toss it towards the bathroom before he joined her on the bed. "I love you Kate," he said, cupping her cheek before they lay down.

Kissing his thumb that was rubbing against her lower lip, Beckett smiled and replied, "I know, I could feel that love all night. It was… amazing."

"Vixen," Castle breathed to her teasingly. When she glared at him he was quick to lay her on the bed and began tickling her sides, making her start laughing before she reached between them and grasped his length. "Ah… wait, wait…" he said as he was quick to pull her hand away. "I don't know if you're up to anything else."

Beckett was going to reply that she was, but the fatigue that seemed to be with her more often than not lately was making it impossible to ignore and she sighed saying, "I thought I could but… We'll have tomorrow."

"What we'll have," Castle said as he helped her lay down and got the bed sheet and thin comforter over their bodies. "Is a day out and we'll see what happens."

"No planning?" Beckett asked with a smile since he didn't always like doing that.

"Unless you want it," Castle commented.

Smiling a little wider, Becket kissed him deeply and they became a little heavily involved before she managed to break away. "We'll let it happen if we want to," she told him, not surprised when he looked at her, since they both knew already they did. She cupped his cheek and whispered, "I love you Rick."

Castle leaned down and took her lips, but that time it was a gentle kiss, and not that long before he pulled away, reaching over to turn off the light on the nightstand since that was the last one left on. He held her close, kissing her temple as she relaxed, and he let himself do the same, falling asleep around the same time she did, hoping she was as satiated as he was nodding off.

* * *

A little unsure of why the room was so bright through the curtains, Castle then realized that it was morning as he stopped blinking his eyes, or near it as he had no idea what time it was. Raising his head, he saw that Beckett was on her back, her right arm above her head, and her left hand over her stomach. It was then he realized his arousal wasn't really a leftover sensation from his dream; he was feeling a great deal of desire as he let his eyes roam her body; what he could see of it. Moving to lay on top of her after pulling down the covers from her, he was careful to move his wife's hand off her stomach, watching to see if she woke up.

When Beckett didn't even move, he felt a rush of excitement at the idea he had, hoping it would work out that time. Very carefully, he spread her legs, and with them apart, he slid into her, slowly, extremely slowly as he didn't want to risk waking her up as he ended up doing the previous times he'd tried making love to her when she was asleep. Luckily his wife was aroused already at his quick check when he'd spread her legs, and he was soon stopping, breathing out heavily as she was incredibly wet around him. Not sure if it was going to work, Castle thrust once, carefully and deliberately, biting his lower lip to try and hold back his groan of pleasure though that was impossible. Luckily it was muffled, and he proceeded to make love to her, his eyes never leaving her to make sure he saw the instant that she was awake.

Beckett came out of her dream of her husband to discover that he was on top of her, thrusting inside of her and she tilted her head back, crying out as the sensation of him moving inside of her was quick to reach her. She wasn't surprised when he kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around him as she wrapped her legs around her waist. "You…" she breathed out, trying to ask him when he'd pulled away from her.

"I had to, you deserve to be worshiped Kate," Castle told her before he kissed her deeply, wanting her to be focused on what he was doing to her. He was startled at what he'd said though since he'd spoken it in his dream as he'd been taking her in it, but guessed he'd wanted to say it aloud.

The two made love very slowly, taking the time to feel each other, caressing one another and kissing when they pleased, until everything culminated in their nearly mutual climax. Then they were holding on to each other tightly, trying to withstand the fulfillment of their efforts, and they were disappointed when they stopped moving, laying on their sides so they wouldn't have to part.

"You seem to be insatiable," Castle told her after they'd calmed down a little, kissing her fingertips that were brushing over his lips.

"So do you," Beckett shot back, smirking as he raised and lowered his eyebrows a few times. "I think if that's the case, better we're together."

"Of course," Castle said, sighing as she pulled away from him slowly and then sat up. He followed her and ran his fingers through her hair after her own, careful since it was tangled in some places. "So, feel like anything for breakfast?"

"Are you hungry?" Beckett asked, stretching her arms above her head as she watched her husband staring at her, the look in his eyes changing rapidly. "Because I'm starving." When he looked at her with a slightly startled expression on his face she smiled as seductively as she knew how telling him, "Not for food though love… not yet," her hand curling around his length that was visibly beginning to stir as he'd been watching her body.

"Neither am I," Castle said taking her hands and lacing their fingers together before he laid his wife down on her pillow, kissing her deeply before he let her go.

As Beckett wrapped her arms around Castle's neck, their kiss turned into many, and they worked each other up again. Once he was back inside her, they were making love again, taking advantage of the fact that they wanted one another so badly and that they could come together. They forgot about their plans they'd made for that day, but what was more than enough compensation to them was each other. With that they let everything fade away until their world was just one another on that large, very comfortable bed, driving each other to what heights of pleasure they could manage, enjoying every last minute of it as they did so; knowing that was a part of what made them so good together and why they were so deeply in love as they could feel it so easily.


	20. Of Auld Eireland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song The Luck of the Irish by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, from their album Some Time in New York City.

Watching her husband as he was slowly biting into the piece of toast he'd slathered with strawberry preserves, Beckett finally couldn't help ask, "Is whatever you're reading that engrossing?"

Looking up at her, Castle was a little startled before he asked, "Did you say something and I didn't respond?"

"No, but you've taken almost ten minutes at least to eat those two bites of toast you had since starting it," Beckett replied. "What happened?"

"Oh, no, nothing, I was just reading about a new park they opened in Dublin," Castle setting down the newspaper. "There's a statue of Joyce in it. So, what did you want to talk about?"

Shaking her head, Beckett finished the last of the fruit salad they'd split from their breakfast, and reached for her tea telling him, "Nothing, I just am eager to go."

"I'm surprised, I thought you would have been exhausted still from what we were doing only a few hours ago," Castle said, unable to help remembering their lovemaking after he'd been able to start it as she'd been asleep.

"What sleep I got after was enough," Beckett said simply. "Are you ready?"

"Well, breakfast is finished, so yes," Castle said. He watched her go to the armoire in the corner of the room before she took her clothes in the bathroom. He yawned slightly and looked at the plates from breakfast before getting up from the table himself. He changed into his clothes and as he was putting on his shoes his wife came out. "So, are you going to kiss it?" he asked.

"I thought I was obligated?" Beckett teased him as she sat on the bench in front of the bed next to him to put on her shoes.

"Are those comfortable? I asked reception about Dunmore Head and he said it was a little uneven, where we're going is at the edge of a cliff," Castle said.

"I'll be fine," Beckett replied with a slight smile as she got up. "Besides, I'll have to keep you from running to the edge to look down so I'll keep myself safe too in the process. Let's go, the sooner we go, the sooner we can come back." She wasn't all that surprised when he looked up at her in surprise, and she quickly finished by saying, "And go swimming."

Sighing, Castle stood with her and grabbed a jacket and the blanket they'd bought for themselves in Donegal. "I wasn't kidding about a picnic; we have to go pick it up before we leave," he told her, wondering at the slight smile on her face.

"I know, just funny that you would want to do that," Beckett commented as he came to her at the door.

"Still? Man, I need to take you on more picnics, so you'll stop thinking that. And make you want me more," Castle said. "Ah, that look I know too well," he teased her, seeing her expression. He reached down and took her chin in his fingers before tilting it up enough to let him kiss her gently. When they parted he pressed his forehead to hers and said, "Let's go?"

Beckett merely smiled and opened the door before they stepped out into the hallway. As they were walking to the elevator she took her husband's hand and squeezed it tightly before their fingers entwined. She leaned against him during the ride down, listening to a pair of men talking about the golf, glancing up at Castle. She was surprised when he didn't say anything to the two men, but glancing back at them, realized why when she noticed one was looking her over. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she looked away again until they had left the car and said, "All the time, I can never get away from it," in obvious irritation.

"Yeah, I noticed, but… there's a reason for that," Castle pointed out.

Letting out an annoyed sound, Beckett followed him to reception where they waited for their lunch to be delivered. As they were walking to the front door, the man standing at it called to them.

"Your car is here sir, ma'am," he told them.

"Thank you," Castle said before they went out. "Look at that," he said.

"I know," Beckett said, smiling when she saw the admiration in his eyes as they walked up to the red car where another man was standing next to it. She was surprised when it turned out she was allowed to drive the car, as she had the prerequisites the company required from anyone driving their cars. She and Castle had to take a sort of test drive with the employee before they were both checked out, and had filled out the necessary paperwork. Once her husband had paid, they had their things in the car and were putting on their jackets as the worker put the top down.

"Do you mind?" Castle asked.

"No, it's a beautiful day, so why not?" Beckett said as she slipped on her sunglasses. "Thanks," she said to the man as he opened the driver's door. She smiled when Castle jogged around the other side of the car and opened the passenger door for her, making her squeeze his hand in thanks before sitting down.

"Enjoy your day Mr. Castle, Ms. Beckett," the man told them. "Drive safely and we'll see you later in the day."

After saying goodbye to the man, Castle started down the parking lot, passing their own car. Once he got to the first street in the directions he asked his wife, "Alright?"

"Fine," Beckett called out over the wind. "How does she run?"

"Fantastic, wait until you try her out," Castle said. "When do you want to?"

"From the castle to Dunmore Head," Beckett replied, watching him drive. She smiled at how eager he looked, but was still being careful, something he would do with the Ferrari when they were in it. She thought of something and asked, "They didn't have Ferraris?"

"One, but it was a 1990 model, I wanted old," Castle said. "Though I guess if I really wanted to I could have picked out the 1960 Ford Zodiac."

"They had one of those?" Beckett asked with a laugh. "Wow, impressive, but better you chose this one."

"Because it's a convertible?" Castle said. When she nodded he laughed slightly and then said, "So I guess we're talking, unless you want to put the radio on."

Beckett smiled at him and leaned back further in her seat saying, "Did you look up what there is to do at the castle? Or is it just kissing the stone?"

"There's more, a few things, gardens…" Castle began before trailing off. "You have your camera right?"

"Please," Beckett scoffed jokingly. "And it's our camera."

"I think at this point it's yours. And I give up my co-ownership gladly, you're the better photographer," Castle told her. When she grabbed his hand that was resting at the moment on his leg he looked at her, cursing their glasses as with both of them wearing them it was hard for him to see what she was thinking.

"Not when we're having some of our more private sessions," Beckett teased him. She laughed softly as his fingers dug into his leg a little in response, and to have mercy on him, she said, "I'd love to look at all the gardens since we'll get there pretty early, would you mind?"

"Not at all, they have one garden I'm interested in seeing," Castle told her. When she nodded he took her hand and kissed the back of it before asking her about visiting towns on their way back to the manor. They discussed whether they wanted to hurry back to their hotel or instead would take their time and explore more of their route. It wasn't settled until they'd reached the parking for the castle about an hour later, when he said, "I think we both decided this yesterday already."

"I know," Beckett said, watching him put the cover up. "So we'll head back."

"Right, for now, let's go kiss the stone," Castle said in an Irish accent as they got out.

After paying for admission, Beckett took the booklet that he handed her and she looked at the things listed under the main grounds. "Do you want to go to the rock close area?"

"Any gardens there?" Castle asked as they were making their way down Cherry Walk to go to the castle.

"A lot… oh," Beckett said, her voice suddenly becoming a little distraught.

"Crap, I was going to try and keep you from seeing that," Castle said, knowing then she'd found the horses graveyard that was on the property. "We won't go there Kate, no reason at all to go."

Smiling at that, and in the way he'd said it, Beckett squeezed his hand and said, "Thank you, but there's a lot to see, and I think we should limit ourselves to about an hour and a half since it's going to take two hours to get to Dunmore Head right?"

"Yeah, so let's each pick the one place on this first list we really want to look at and we'll see what else we can fit in… after the castle," Castle told her.

Beckett nodded in agreement and took his hand as they walked up to where the famous stone was, at the top. To her surprise, the line wasn't as long as she'd feared and as they waited, she read the pamphlet. " _Kiss the Blarney Stone_ ," she said to her husband as he turned to her. " _And you'll never again be at a loss for words_." She raised her eyebrow at him and said, "Oh great," her tone heavy in sarcasm. "That's all I need, you with more eloquence."

Castle just smiled at that and then asked her, "Want me to take your picture while you're doing that?"

"I'll be taking yours," Beckett told him teasingly before they made it to the front of the line. Her husband urged her to go first, and she leaned over at the direction of a worker sitting down at the edge of the parapet walk. She held the iron railings tightly as the man directed her attention to the stone since she was looking at the wall first. She quickly kissed the Blarney Stone, for some reason not feeling foolish as she'd come to the castle believing she would. She smiled at Castle as she took her camera back and kissed him before she turned to watch him.

"Does it count if she kisses the stone and then me?" Castle joked as he bent over the walk.

"Afraid not sir," the man said with a slight laugh. "You'll have to give it a kiss yourself."

Nodding, Castle did so before he was helped back up, and he went to Beckett to see their pictures. "Julia's going to want to do that herself," he told her.

"Most likely," Beckett said. "Alright, so, gardens?"

"Right, let me see the map… what did you want to see?" Castle asked her.

"The Irish Garden and the Herbaceous Garden too," Beckett said.

"I would like to see the Poison Garden," Castle told her, showing it to her on the map.

"Let's head out there first, and get the macabre stuff out of the way," Beckett joked before they headed down the castle to the grounds. Walking together, she had wanted to take his hand, but as she'd done on the way in, she was taking pictures, a few of them of her husband without him noticing since she'd taken off the shutter sound.

"This is going to be awesome," Castle said when they came to the sign at the entrance to the garden. "Though if we bring the kids here… will have to definitely keep an eye on them."

"You mean hold their hands and keep them from trying to pick the flowers," Beckett said, looking up from the warning and to the inside of the garden. She and Castle walked up to the first flowerbed before she looked past them to the blue flowers that had caught her eye.

"Hey, that's cheating," Castle joked, getting his wife's attention. "Can't look ahead."

"I'm giving you a chance to read the plaques," Beckett replied, since there were a number of them, explaining how the plants or flowers were poisonous.

"Alright, what are you looking at?" Castle asked. When she nodded to the next flowerbed, he followed her over to it and then exclaimed, "Delphinium is poisonous?" getting the attention of other people around them.

"It is," Beckett said, trying not to laugh as people were looking at her husband. "Don't eat it."

"Oh, I was going to say," Castle said, reading the plaque and seeing the same thing. "Weird that we had those for the wedding."

"A lot of flowers are poisonous. Like those," Beckett told him, nodding to the other side of the path.

"Yeah," Castle said slowly, since there were a lot of foxglove flowers in the flowerbeds. He was a little surprised when Beckett suddenly walked over to them, starting to take pictures. "Wait, you don't mind?" he asked, going to her hastily.

"I do like the flowers," Beckett said simply, smiling at his reaction as she'd expected that. "You can't blame them for being toxic can you?" she asked, nodding in the direction of the delphinium.

"You make a good point," Castle said with a nod, watching her taking a few more pictures. He took her hand then, and as they went through more plants and flowers he started to speak, but was taken aback when his wife turned to him and they spoke at the same time.  
"I think we should write about this garden," they both said. Looking at each other, Beckett smiled and shook her head as she turned to take a picture of some rue. "What were you thinking?"

"Well, first, I think we're going to be doing that from now on with our writing," Castle replied. "Second, I was thinking that with this garden, we could have it be part of a place outside the city, where the killer maybe is working at; but they'll try to set up someone who was recently fired. I don't have details, but I think they should use things like rue, or the pokeroot, anything in here. You?"

"I wasn't thinking in any details, just using that as a plot," Beckett said slowly.

"It's a rush to get your first idea for that isn't it?" Castle asked with a slight grin.

"It is, but we need to see about this first book first," Beckett told him, still surprised at herself.

"Can you take pictures of the plaques? As many as you can; just in case we need these plants for a possible second book," Castle said.

"Third book," Beckett replied. "Either Moor or Green can be poisoned, and that'll lead the other admitting their feelings." She shrugged when her husband looked at her in slight surprise and said, "You can change that, but it was just an idea."

"No, I like that, because when you're that helpless… you confront what you feel for that person," Castle said, staring into her eyes. When he saw the questioning look on her face he told her, "When you and Julia were taken, I started having an idea that I wasn't going to be able to spend the rest of my life without you. I began to flirt with the idea of proposing to you then."

"Flirt?" Beckett asked, touched but trying not to let him see that.

Putting his arm around her, Castle said, "Yeah, it took a little bit for me to think about that seriously, since I had to give you time with Julia. But the idea was always in my mind."

Nodding, Beckett took a picture of some wormwood before she turned to him saying, "Why don't we head to the Irish Garden?"

Smiling, as he knew she was trying not to let it show it meant a lot to her to hear that, Castle nodded since they'd reached the end of the garden, and they walked around to the Irish Garden that was next to it. Looking around he nodded saying, "Yeah, this is what I expected."

Beckett didn't really hear him as she was already taking photographs, until her camera was being carefully taken out of her hands. "Why-" she asked her husband.

"Keep looking around," Castle said with a nod towards the white flowers in front of them.

Going over to the flowers he'd indicated, Beckett had to wonder if he'd somehow known that she was taking pictures of him earlier. It didn't really surprise her to consider that he had, and she smiled at she walked ahead of him a little as she could almost feel him pressing the button for the shutter on the camera, wondering how those pictures would turn out. Finally in front of some wild garlic that had some late white flowers on a few, she turned to him and took her camera back before kissing him quickly. "Get your phone," she told him when they'd parted.

"Right," Castle said quickly, realizing what she wanted to do. He got it ready, and holding her tight against his side, took the selfie with the moss covered stones in view behind them. "Let me send this to Alexis…" he told her, typing quickly before the picture was sent. "Okay, so now what?"

"The Herbaceous Garden," Beckett said. She gave her husband a strange look when he snorted once and asked, "You don't want to go?"

"No, I do, I'm just remembering something Alexis said," Castle said. "When she was little. She went through a dinosaur phase and when we were at the museum, she said the word cretaceous made her tongue giggle. That word just reminded me of that."

"It sounds like something Julia would say," Beckett replied with a smile. "Speaking of Julia…" she commented.

Looking at the text he'd gotten, Castle laughed and said, "Alexis sent this picture along with her message."

Taking the phone as they paused on the avenue they'd reached, Beckett laughed herself seeing that it was of their daughter at their pool, peeking her head from around a beach ball she was holding. "So she is having fun," she said. Looking at her watch then as Castle told Alexis to tell Julia they loved her, she said, "Wait, she can't be up, it's-"

"I know I just asked her," Castle said as they continued to walk. He got an answering text in reply and said, "Ah, that makes more sense. Alexis got woken up by the message," wincing when he saw that. "I'll have to apologize. And that picture was from yesterday after we spoke to them."

By then they were at some waterfalls, and Beckett made him stop as he was texting Alexis back for the last time. She took some pictures until he was finished and they watched the running water for a few minutes before continuing on. "I don't know if I said yet," she told Castle as she took his hand, leaning against him. "Thank you for everywhere you're taking me."

"You're very welcome. It's a different experience going with someone, and with it being my new wife, a lot more fun," Castle said, leaning over enough so they could kiss briefly. "But I'm glad you're enjoying this. When I was getting everything set, I wasn't sure you would."

"'This' has been great," Beckett replied with a smile. "All of it."

"And me too right?" Castle asked hopefully, though he was mostly joking. He was surprised when she merely looked at him with a slightly seductive expression on her face, and he swallowed hard as he looked at the building they were passing. "Oh, hey, aren't those stables."

"They are," Beckett said as he paused to let her take a picture. "But no horses," she pointed out. "Not with those tables there. Let's keep going."

"So now," Castle said as they came to the garden. "They… oh boy," he said when he saw the path through the garden and all the flowers still blooming on either side of it.

"I'm not planning on taking a picture of every last one," Beckett said.

"Good thing, we'll never get out of here," Castle joked. "But what I was going to say," he told his wife as she went over to some purple and white Iris still blooming. "Is are we going to sign Julia up for classes?"

Going to the next flowers, Beckett was a little confused before she realized what kind of classes he was talking about. "We can start looking around once we go home. But remember we need to balance her ballet and Ballroom lessons too."

"Really good thing the school has a similar set up to Mt. Surrey," Castle told her.

"And I'm glad she can walk to and from school now," Beckett said. "But do you know any place we could take her for riding lessons? The stables we've ridden at?"

"They do offer lessons, but how old you need to be I don't know. We can ask back at home," Castle told her. He watched her taking a picture of some plants that almost looked like thistles before asking, "What else do you want to go see?"

"I think that's enough," Beckett said. "There's still a lot more to this garden, and a lot of walking." She paused after taking a picture of pink poppies before asking him, "I kind of want to head out to Dunmore Head."

"We'll be back here," Castle promised her, knowing she was torn between both places. "And we'll have a lot more time than two weeks. If we could have, I swear we'd have been here for a month Kate." When she gave him a look at that he asked, "Would you have believed three weeks?"

"That's more believable," Beckett replied, smiling a little at him. "But still a little long to be away from our daughter." She watched him take her camera then, surprised he wanted to take pictures of the flowers before he instead asked someone walking by to take a picture of them in front of some lupine she'd been admiring. She held onto him as he wrapped his arm around her and they were able to get the picture taken quickly before continuing on, that time her camera in one hand before she saw some flowers she remembered her grandmother having. She told Castle about it, how she'd had a stem of the flowers called Six Hills Giant dried and hanging in a frame before saying, "I don't know why she did, she never told me the reason, but she did like them, and I guess Grandpa got them for her, they were pretty," holding her camera up in one hand and taking a picture of it before getting a closer shot of the purple flowers themselves.

"I didn't know you could do that," Castle said as he watched her. "If I'd known," he told her as she turned to him. "I would have been holding your hand this whole time."

Beckett shook her head at his exaggerated expression and said, "Let's go."

"Is that it?" Castle asked, looking around them. He saw that she was right and he said, "We don't really have to go over there you know."

"I know, but I'd like to see it, and take more pictures," Beckett said, showing him her camera.

"With one hand?" Castle asked as he allowed her to pull him back the way they'd come. When she just smirked at him he faltered slightly in his step before they headed to the gift shop. They bought a postcard for their daughter there, planning to give that one to her along with some they'd picked up in Adare when they returned home. "Are you sure you want to drive?" he asked his wife once they were at the car.

"I'm sure, but since it's so long of a drive," Beckett said, looking at his phone where the directions were. "Why don't we switch in Killarney?"

"Sure," Castle said. "I'll take it from there back to the manor," he said as he sat back while she pulled out of the parking lot. He watched her as she drove, not surprised to see the slight smile on her face once she had gotten used to the gas, break and stick. "Not bad," he said.

"You better being saying my answer to your asking me if I'm enjoying driving for me," Beckett teased him, speaking loud so he'd hear her over the wind.

"Please, if you can handle my Ferrari, you can handle this," Castle commented.

Beckett didn't comment on that, instead saying, "Do you know what's there?"

"I'm not sure, I think farms, because pictures I've seen there have a lot of cows," Castle told her.

"Better hope they don't have sheep," Beckett said, smiling at him.

Making a slight face back at her, Castle took his wife's hand, kissing the back of it before he held it until she needed it to shift gears again, watching the passing countryside as they continued west.

* * *

"Now I'm affirmed in my desire to drive out here," Beckett was saying as she looked into the distance. "I just wish we could get to the end."

"There's no way I'd risk you and the baby going near the cliff," Castle said, hoping she wasn't that desirous to go.

"And what, you think I would?" Beckett said, looking back at him with a slight glare.

"This is good right here," Castle said, locking the car and going with her off the road they'd had to stop at since it went no further west. "It is beautiful in person."

"I know, I wish we could walk around, but… that drive was very long," Beckett said, smiling when he handed her the blanket he had over his arm. She sat once he was finished and opened up the white box with their food and drinks. "Thank you for the Cidona," she told him, taking out the two bottles. "I'm surprised you didn't bring some wine, their selection is pretty nice."

"Next time we come and you aren't pregnant we'll try some of it," Castle commented. He watched her glance momentarily up at him, but he couldn't tell what her expression was since she was still wearing her glasses. He only hoped it wasn't a negative one as he took one of the sandwiches she handed him. "I had to custom order this, because on the menu there's way too much food, luckily they know who I am so it wasn't a problem," he told her as she took out two small bags of chips. "Tayto… I like that name," he read from one of the bags.

"Going to use it in a book?" Beckett asked in amusement as they started to eat.

"Sure," Castle said simply as he ate one chip. "Not bad, I wasn't sure about the cheese and onion."

"Thank you for the salt and vinegar," Beckett said before she looked to their right then. "I don't know, maybe we could go down a little more," she said thoughtfully. "At least until the way gets too narrow."

"We could try," Castle said after hesitating a little.

"You're becoming a mother hen," Beckett teased him. She leaned over and kissed him on the lips before saying, "Thank you, but believe me, I'll be careful."

Nodding, Castle then asked, "This isn't going to take that long, are you sure you just want to go back right after this?"

"I'm sure," Beckett replied. "The rest of the day I'd like to stay around the manor."

"Well, we are going to go swimming," Castle commented. "So there's that."

"Of course," Beckett said with a smile. Finishing her sandwich a short time later, she got up without waiting for her husband, and went as close to the cliff as she could, taking pictures. She turned back to the mainland and took a few from that direction before Castle was joining her. "Glad I put my hair back," she commented with a laugh as a gust of wind made her stagger a step towards him. When she'd reached him they stood where they were, looking around one more time.

"Still want to walk?" Castle asked her.

Looking at the way the end of the peninsula angled up, Beckett sighed and said, "I probably shouldn't. But I would love to look at those islands much more closely."

"They're called the Blasket Islands, which I like as it's kind of a weird merging of our names though the letters are all over the place," Castle said. "Though not as good a merging as Caskett is."

Trying not to smile so obviously at that, Beckett was about to speak when her husband did and she looked at him as he began.

"But you know what's really all over the place," Castle was telling her. "Our legs and arms when we-" He wasn't too surprised by her hand slapping over his mouth at that and said, his voice muffled, "You know I'm right."

"Why don't we go back and swim? I won't give you the chance to prove me right in that, but I'll give you me in a bikini if you'll take that," Beckett told him; sounding serious though she was teasing him.

"Come on," Castle scoffed. "You in any form I can get is great, as long as you're real and not in my dreams."

Beckett was going to start walking back to the car when she was grabbed around the waist and with a gasp as she was pulled back into Castle's arms, and she threw her arms around him tightly as they were suddenly frantically kissing one another. She realized then that he had to be feeling the same as she did, and while she was relieved, she didn't want to indulge in that desire so constantly as her body was urging her to do. Luckily her husband pulled away from her and they parted slowly before he pressed his forehead against hers. "I love you," she whispered to him, catching her breath.

"I adore you love," Castle replied, kissing her forehead before suddenly getting on his knees.

Beckett was a little startled by that until he was pressing his lips to her abdomen, smiling as she watched him. "Rick, your knee," she then scolded him gently, making him stand up. She brushed her lips against his before they left; their things in hand as they returned to the car for the two and a half hour drive back to the manor.

* * *

Turning onto The Avenue outside of Adare, Castle looked over at Beckett and saw she was sitting up. "Hey, morning," he told her as he neared the turn to the manor. "Nice nap?"

"Yeah, how long was I out?" Beckett asked, pulling the ponytail holder off her hair and running her fingers through it.

"Around Tralee, so an hour or so," Castle told her. "I was going to put up the top, but you seemed to sleep pretty well."

"I did," Beckett said. "I needed that I guess."

"We didn't get much sleep this morning after we made love," Castle reminded her. He pulled up to the manor parking lot where the worker they'd been talking to was waiting for them saying, "She ran great."

"Fantastic to hear," the worker said as he circled the car as Beckett got out and went to the trunk while Castle was putting up the top. "Had a good excursion ma'am?"

"It was beautiful," Beckett said honestly. She waited until the man had cleared the car of any scratches or dents, and Castle had their blanket. They said goodbye to the man before he drove off and walking inside she told him, "We should try that next time."

"With the Zodiac?" Castle asked.

"It should fit us all in it," Beckett replied with a smile.

"Welcome back Mr. Castle, Ms. Beckett," the man at the door said, nodding.

After murmuring a greeting, Castle turned to his wife and as they went to the elevator said, "I forgot something last night." When Beckett looked at him questioningly he said, "To ask our parents about that article."

"Better to have waited since more time has passed, but you might need to wait until they go back to the city," Beckett told him.

"Good point," Castle replied. "And you know you can get in touch with Lanie and the boys, see what they've heard; if anything."

"Later," Beckett said, waving her hand. She smiled when Castle looked at her knowingly and she said, "Yes, I want to concentrate on this trip. I just need some time to forget about everything for a little before we go home."

"Good idea," Castle said in agreement since he felt the same. By then they were on the top floor, walking to their room where they got their bathing suits and he changed as Beckett was looking at his tablet.

"Any reason why you didn't go into the bathroom?" Beckett asked absently before she set the device down.

"The windows are small, no one's going to see anything unless it's pressed up against them," Castle told her, pausing in pulling his trunks up the rest of the way. He then quickly said, "Why don't you just change here. Or do you not trust me?"

"Not really," Beckett said, smiling as she went to armoire where her bathing suit was. "You never seem to be able to keep your hands away."

"That should be a compliment love," Castle told her, sitting on the edge of the bed next to where she'd put her bikini.

"Oh don't worry, I take it as one, but," Beckett said, taking off her blouse. She watched him closely as he watched her, a little surprised when that was all he did, and then told him, "When I need to do something else, you're trying to get too hand-sy."

"Still, you don't complain that much," Castle said, his breath sucking in when she took off all of her clothes before grabbing the bottoms of her bikini. "I'm tempted," he suddenly confessed, his eyes going over her breasts as she covered her mound.

"I know, I can tell by the way you just went rigid," Beckett replied with a smile. "So," she said as she pulled on the bra of the bikini. "Where exactly are we going to have dinner, the grounds?"

"We never went to look at them," Castle said suddenly. Looking at his watch he asked her, "Want to go now?"

"Sure, I wanted to take my camera to the pool anyways," Beckett said, slipping on her cover-up sundress. She waited for him to put on a shirt and jeans, and they headed out to the grounds.

"Pretty nice," Castle said as they came to the Parterre. "But I'm remembering the gardens at the castle."

"Or are you remembering the Poison Garden?" Beckett asked wryly.

"Definitely that, when you start getting more ideas, you know you're going to be writing for a long time," Castle said as they went down to the French Formal Garden. He watched her taking pictures, and she was suddenly turned in such a way that he could see her stomach in silhouette, making him smile a little.

"You-" Beckett started to say before she saw he was staring at her. She bit her lower lip as his gaze went to her eyes and she went to him saying, "Anything?"

"No, but soon, in a couple months you'll notice," Castle told her, wrapping his arm around her to hold her against him. "And probably shortly after that, I'll be able to see our baby."

Beckett shared a tender kiss with him and said, "You like this, that I'm pregnant."

"Ah… if I say yes will you be irritated?" Castle asked.

"Do you want me to be in that state constantly?" Beckett replied with a question of her own. She had to smile when he shook his head no furiously and said, "Then you can say yes."

"Yes," Castle said simply, loving the way his wife's face looked when she laughed as she started to then. Though anyone looking out the windows down to the garden could see them, he had to kiss her, and he did so, taking her lips slowly, gently before they broke apart only enough for her to speak.

"I want to take another picture," Beckett said. She smiled he let go of her; reluctantly she could tell; and she reached into his pocket.

"Hey, thanks," Castle said as he had to jerk a little out of the way before she got too close to his groin. "You did that on purpose," he said, pretending to sound amazed.

"Come here," Beckett told him, turning to the south and letting him take his phone. "Get the windows from our room," she urged him.

Leaning a little to the left, Castle got them and took the picture before he was texting Alexis. "What time is it there now?" he asked, slightly distracted.

"It's a quarter to ten," Beckett said, looking at her watch. "If she's not too tired she'll be up."

"Really hope Alexis could go back to sleep earlier this morning," Castle told his wife as the picture was sending. "Okay, the flowerbeds now?"

"Sure," Beckett said though he was already taking her hand and leading her to the field past the mazes. She squeezed his hand as they went over to where there was a black metal arbor, and she began to take pictures, trying to get one with the manor, Castle and the flowers blooming. When she looked at the shot, she wasn't surprised to see she'd caught her husband plucking a red rose from the bed. "And if you get in trouble?" she asked as he came to her.

"They can charge me the price to our room," Castle told her simply, plucking the thorns off. He flinched when one poked him, and he quickly cleared a few leaves before presenting it to her. "These aren't poisonous right?"

"If they were, then we should spread the word," Beckett joked as he moved to tuck the bloom behind her left ear instead of letting her take it. When he leaned down to kiss her she allowed it, but was the first to pull away, telling him, "You just wanted to kiss me."

"Well, the flower does look nice there," Castle said. He took her hand in his and leaned over, kissing her again, but much faster that time. "Keep going?"

"Just this side, they're both the same," Beckett said, looking over at the other half of the garden. She rushed her pictures a little then, but didn't care as she wanted to get to the pool badly. Once she had rejoined her husband they went back inside and into the locker rooms to get their cover ups off before walking to the pool. There were a few people there, but two were leaving as they walked in, and one person was getting out of the pool. After they'd saved the chairs they'd used the day before, she went to the end and dove in, breaking the surface towards the middle. She heard a loud splash and turned to see Castle was following her, turning to swim to the other side of the pool before he caught up to her.

As she was holding onto the edge of the pool with one hand as she faced him, Castle pressed his lips to hers and murmured, "Another thing you should know."

"What's that?" Beckett asked with a smile as she caressed his cheek with her free hand.

"You're pretty enticing when wet," Castle told her seriously, hoping to get her to laugh again.

Doing so, though quickly, Beckett pinched his shoulder before letting go of the edge of the pool and slipping under the water, going over to the ladder. She waited for her husband to come out before she took his hand and led him around the other side of where they'd jumped in. When they were close to the edge, he grabbed her, and she was laughing before they hit the water as he forced her in with him, holding onto her. When they resurfaced, she splashed at Castle before he jumped at her and she ducked underneath, swimming away from him again.

Going after his wife, Castle managed to catch up to her and he told her, "Not much of an effort Kate."

"I could get out," Beckett teased him.

"I'd still be able to catch up to you," Castle told her seriously. "Want to play Marco Polo?"

"I'll pass," Beckett said. "Laps?"

"Races," Castle returned quickly. "Though… will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Beckett said. "Are you worried I'll outpace you?"

"Come on," Castle said, narrowing his eyes teasingly at her. They swam the rest of the way to the other side of the pool and once he knew she was ready said, "Three, two, one, go!" before they took off back across the way they'd gone. He was able to beat her, but as usually happened, not by much.

"I think you have an unfair advantage," Beckett joked, since she usually said that to him when they raced in the pool. "But congratulations."

"You know, since I did win," Castle began, running his hand over her side to the small of her back.

"We never set a prize," Beckett said before she went under the water again, swimming below him before she went to the ladder, climbing out. She watched him hurry to follow her, and told him, "But maybe you can name your own prize."

"I was going to say and then you left," Castle said, pretending to be frustrated. He wasn't surprised when she wrapped her arms around him, and he kissed her, tenderly though quickly before he whispered into her ear.

Without a word, Beckett went to where her towel was, drying herself off and watching as her husband did the same next to her before they got their clothes back and dressed.

"Did you want to swim more?" Castle asked as they were walking to the elevator.

"Not really," Beckett replied. "I would ask you the same but now I'm wondering if you didn't have the race in mind before we even went in."

"Actually, I didn't," Castle told her on the ride up. "I swear," he said with a laugh at the same time. "I just got the idea when you said laps."

"Why did we go down?" Beckett said when she realized they had barely spent a half hour outside their room after changing.

"I don't know," Castle said, brushing some of her damp hair off her cheek before continuing down the hall. He let her inside first after he'd opened the door, locking it before he allowed himself to stride over to her and grab her around her front, pulling her flush against him as he brushed his lips over what was bare of her right shoulder. "Let me," he breathed to her.

Nodding, Beckett turned around and wrapped her arms around him before they were kissing. At first they started out quickly, but then they were kissing a lot slower and she was holding onto him tightly, pressing against him. She moaned into his mouth as she could feel his arousal firmly against her thigh. "We should… hurry," she breathed as he kissed at her neck then.

"There is no hurry," Castle told her, not surprised when she pulled back enough to look at him. "There isn't," he assured her. He'd had the sudden thought as she had spoken, that while they weren't taking each other roughly every single time they'd been together, he wanted to take the chance then to take his time with her. "I'll show you," he said as he carefully let her go and had her turn her back to him.

Beckett felt him unzipping the dress before he parted it, shivering slightly as his lips brushed against her. She turned back to him before he could touch her to move, and she took down the front of her dress as he tried to pull off the top of her bikini at the same time. "Wait," she said with a smile. "What were you saying about no hurry?"

"Sorry, I think I wanted to hurry you through this," Castle said a little sheepishly before he helped her push her dress off her hips. Then he allowed himself to remove the top of her bikini, reaching down to cup his hands over her breasts momentarily before he kissed her.

Waiting for Castle to descend from her lips to her neck, Beckett reached for his jeans, opening them and she was about to open his trunks before he pulled away. She took the chance while he was standing back up, and pulled up his shirt as he helped her along. Getting his pants off was a mutual task they both did, kissing a few times when they managed to. He pulled her to him once they were both naked from the waist up, and she kissed his jaw before he turned her head by placing his hand on her cheek. "At least get me onto the bed," she whispered with a smile after he'd kissed her slowly and sensuously on the lips.

"If that's what you want," Castle said simply, running his hands after hers as she pulled off the bottoms of her bikini. When she had gotten them away from her feet, he ran his hand over her hip, rubbing the skin before pressing a few quick kisses to her abdomen. Her hand on his shoulder brought him back up to her, and he let her take off his trunks, though he had to take them off the rest of the way. With that done, he kissed her once, quickly, before he led her over to the bed where he laid her down in the exact middle. They seemed to mutually agree on it, and he was sliding inside of her before her legs wrapped around his calves, as far down on him as they could go. He was pressed close to her, his arms under her back while hers were holding onto his back and shoulders. Staring into her eyes, feeling how aroused she had become in the end, he kissed her, barely brushing his lips against hers, starting to move as he did that and at the same time feeling her moving with him, making them both react vocally immediately.

With her hands holding onto her husband as tightly as she could, Beckett could feel the way his muscles were straining in his back, his thrusts slow and deep, knowing he was trying to make sure she felt him. She wanted to tell him that she had no problem doing that, as they were close to one another with that position. Thinking that, it suddenly came to her that they had never really used that one, and remembered they'd seen it in their version of the Kama Sutra. She moved to kiss him, as she also recalled that in the drawing, the two deities had been kissing passionately, and she wanted the same from Castle.

Through their love making which remained very slow and measured, Castle and Beckett kissed when they could, when they didn't need to desperately breathe. Finally they climaxed together, very close, and feeling her husband so obviously holding himself tense against her, she kissed him deeply until they finally stopped moving for good, and they parted.

As she lay back on her pillow, Beckett smiled as Castle got onto his side, looking at her, and told him, "Nice of you to keep from outright fucking me at the end."

"Happy to oblige," Castle said with an Irish accent. He watched her arms reach above her head and he ran his hand over her chest and down to her abdomen. "I feel like you're getting annoyed at me," he said as she gave him a slight smirk.

"No, not at all," Beckett said. "It's a little reaffirmation of the fact you want our baby too."

Nodding, Castle turned onto his stomach then, putting his arm over his wife before he suddenly asked, "I'm wondering, once Lanie knew about us, did she ask you how this was?"

"Our love life?" Beckett asked. When he nodded she bit her lower lip and said, "Do you remember that one night when I stayed in the city at her place?"

"Yeah, you were getting the last of your things out of your dad's place," Castle said. "And spent the night at her apartment. You talked about it then?" At his wife's affirmation at that he said quickly, "Tell me."

Smiling, Beckett began by saying, "As soon as I had some tea, she was talking to me about the baby. I'm going to assume she wanted to calm me down for her questions," her mind going back to that night easily since it had been a humorous but still serious conversation.

* * *

_"So your tea's okay?" Lanie asked, sitting on the couch with her._

_"It's perfect, so ask already, I can tell there's something you want to say," Beckett teased her friend._

_"Okay, so you and Castle have been together now for…" Lanie started to say._

_"I told you before," Beckett said, amused as she already had an idea of what her friend wanted to say. "A little over two years now."_

_"Remember when I was telling you he might be good as a lover?" Lanie asked. "Was I right?"_

_"I knew it," Beckett replied, shaking her head before she laughed softly. "I've been waiting for this question for a long time now. And yes Lanie, he is, but I don't really want to share that much."_

_"Well, I want to make sure he isn't most of your past boyfriends," the doctor replied. "Does he bother to get you off, does he rush… does he make that bizarre noise that bank president you dated briefly make when he's getting off."_

_"I shouldn't have told you about that," Beckett groaned slightly. "But really quickly, yes he does; he makes sure he does; no and definitely not."_

_"So you're enjoying it," Lanie said. She had to smile as Beckett only looked at her out of the corner of her eye as she held the backs of her fingers over her lips, hiding her smile. "Oh thank god, I thought you'd never enjoy it fully," she said in relief, hugging her friend. "Or stop faking it," she said._

_Sighing Beckett said, "I did what I felt I had to do."_

_Sitting back, Lanie then asked, "Why did it take you so long to act on your feelings after we talked about that?"_

_"Well, before that discussion we had, you remember the protester and reporter bombers?" Beckett asked. When the doctor nodded she said, "When I was interrogating our pickpocket suspect, I told the man I remembered everything from my shooting. Unfortunately Castle was in observation and heard me and thinking I'd rejected him telling me he loved me, he… started to pull away."_

_"The flight attendant?" Lanie asked, wincing a little when Beckett nodded slowly. "How did you forgive him for that?"_

_"I almost didn't," Beckett said, remembering her phone call to the inspector from Scotland Yard. "And I was so lucky he didn't pick up the phone, that would have been… a mistake that I don't like to think about. But after that I just… tried the best I could to talk to him, but Castle pulled further from me. Going with Slaughter, trying to end our partnership… I told him that wall I'd built was close to coming down after the zombie case so he wouldn't do that."_

_"And he stayed," Lanie replied._

_"And then I went after Maddox," Beckett said. When Lanie urged her to tell her, knowing her friend could see the slight pain on her face, she explained what had happened on the roof and going to the swings she and Castle had sat at when she'd first hinted to him that she could be with him, if she could lose her fear of letting herself be close to him only to lose him as had happened with her mother. "I realized then, there wasn't so much a wall, just my not being able to see how much he actually meant to me. And nearly dying without him there by my side… god that sounds sappy, but…" she began as she shook her head with a slight smile._

_"It's true," Lanie said, a little startled watching her as she could see how much her friend had come to care for Castle, understanding it was much more than she'd ever thought Beckett would let herself feel._

_"I needed him with me for my mom's case and for a lot more than just our partnership," Beckett replied. "And I realized I loved him. Though it took me some more time before I said it. So I went to him and… that's how it began."_

_"And you enjoyed it," Lanie told her teasingly._

_"Yes I enjoyed it," Beckett said in mock annoyance. "We both enjoyed it three times," she said under her breath, looking away from her friend._

_"Now I kind of wish we did share. So one last question," Lanie said._

_"I'm not telling you that," Beckett said, sitting up straight then as she sipped her tea._

_"Come on Kate, I already am aware of that," Lanie said. When her friend froze, looking at her in complete shock she shook her head quickly telling her, "Esposito said Ryan mentioned something about that, a long time ago after some undercover thing Castle did, I don't remember your case now. But they're right."_

_Feeling her cheeks flush slightly, Beckett gave her one quick nod, about to speak when her friend did first._

_"So how can you compare you and Castle to Heat and Rook?"Lanie asked._

_Beckett didn't say anything for a moment before she smiled, telling her friend, "I find reality better than fiction." When Lanie looked at her in surprise she smiled before saying, "So you know now we're going to be living at the beach house, Castle and I want to let you have a room you can use when you come over," wanting to change the subject._

_Smiling back at her, Lanie allowed her to do that, talking about how Beckett was going to be at the beach house and as a writer, relieved to see that when the subject of her fiancé was brought up, her friend was happy; the same when the baby and Julia were mentioned. There was a sense of relief that Beckett was so content, and she felt she could relax, not having to worry for her as she had for so much in the past for her friend to find someone to understand her as much as Castle did._

* * *

"Thank you," Castle said, nodding as he paid the deliverer a tip for bringing their picnic dinner. "Okay love," he said, turning to Beckett who was behind the coffee table at the windows. "Shall we?" that time using a British accent.

"Definitely," Beckett replied, smiling at him as she picked up the blanket and took his outstretched hand so they could go.

Walking out of the manor, Castle took Beckett to the side where the River Maigue was and setting out the blanket said, "I asked about where the best place to sit was, and the employee I asked said it was here."

"Next to the water?" Beckett asked as she sat down with him.

"Yeah, the golf course is closed, so we won't get beaned by a stray ball," Castle told her. When his wife looked at him questioningly he shrugged and told her, "That's what the guy said." He unpacked the box with their dinner and said, "I went with something else besides the sandwiches that we had in the one at lunch. Had to request it specially too, but of course, it should be worth it."

"Of course," Beckett said in amusement. She took the covered dish and said, "An omelet?"

"Made in the restaurant we ate in last night," Castle told her. "It's cheese, bacon, mushrooms and scallions. Luckily I know you like all of those, so hopefully you'll enjoy them on yours."

"I might," Beckett teased him. As they began to eat she told him, "I'm kind of not looking forward to checking out tomorrow."

"We don't have to keep going," Castle said.

"But you have other hotel reservations," Beckett reminded him.

"I do, but I can always cancel them," Castle began to say.

"It's okay," Beckett reassured him. "I would like to see more of the country at the same time, so we'll use that desire to stay here as an inducement to come back." She smiled and then said, "So what do you know about Skye's house?"

"Not all that much," Castle confessed. When his wife looked at him in surprise he told her, "Seriously, I don't. She mentioned an indoor pool, a billiards room and the fact that it's by a creek, so maybe we can swim?"

"I would swim in the pool," Beckett said with a slight smirk. "What's our plan for the last full day? You said going to Cobh?"

"We can head out there early," Castle said quickly as he knew what she was going to say. "And see what we want to before we go back to the house and spend the day there. Is that what you want to do?"

"Our last day? It would be nice not to do so much travelling," Beckett told him.

"Okay, so that's set," Castle told her. "Did you manage to look through the book as I was changing?"

"I did," Beckett said as he'd urged her to see if there was anywhere near enough where they'd be for the next week that she wanted to see that he hadn't planned to visit. "And actually I like your plans as they are. I'm wondering though, why Waterford?"

"Well, the set your parents gave us is good," Castle said, watching to see how she would take him wording it like that. "But I would like to see if they have anything else we might need for parties. And remember we talked about that, kids will be allowed at them, I'm not planning on holding orgies."

"Yeah, if you were I don't think we would have gotten married," Beckett said. "I'm not planning on sharing you love."

"Vice versa," Castle said simply, drinking some of the wine he'd requested. "Are you enjoying it?" he asked, nodding to her food.

"I am," Beckett replied. They were quiet for a moment then before she asked him, "Tell me something about when you were a kid."

"When I went on picnics?" Castle asked, wondering why she'd said that but not minding it. "Told you about that already."

Smiling Beckett said, "No, something I don't already know."

Breathing out slightly as through their relationship he'd shared a number of things already and wasn't sure what exactly he could tell her that would be that new, Castle thought for a moment and finally said, "Okay, you know how people will ask what another's earliest memory is?" When his wife nodded he said, "I think my first one is of reading by myself, at about… four I would say, just barely four. My mother came into my room and when she realized what I was doing, started exclaiming and gave me a script before I read that to her. I became her in home rehearsal partner; something Alexis joined me in once she could read. And that's not a negative thing; I see it as me starting to see how much acting meant to my mother. You?"

"I think it was riding with my mother, in front of her like in that picture I showed you," Beckett replied after thinking herself. "Not for the first time of course, but she would do that when she could ride so it's a memory that stands out since it happened so many times."

Castle then asked Beckett to tell him about the first birthday she could remember having, and they shared a few stories about their childhoods they didn't already know until they were cleaning up their trash and picking up the blanket.

"So they have some stones over there," Castle said as he came back out of the manor; having dropped off their blanket to be picked up before they went to their room. "They call them the Ogham stones, and I would really like to see them."

"We're not going to play Dungeons and Dragons are we?" Beckett asked, pretending to hesitate as she followed him since he was holding her hand.

"No," Castle said, giving her a mock glare. He then pulled her hand a little so she was even with him, and wrapped his arm around her waist. "I just want you to see them."

"You've seen a picture of them?" Beckett asked.

"I have, but seeing them in person would be a lot better," Castle said. "We just need to find them before it gets too dark." He led the way southwest, following the directions he'd asked the person he'd given their blanket to, and finally spotted the tallest one in front of them. "Okay, here we are," he said, going to the plaque. " _These stones_ ," he read. " _Were "imported" from Kerry by Edwin, the third Earl_ …"

"What?" Beckett asked, looking at him.

"Edwin is an interesting name, what do you think?" Castle asked.

"What about Edward," Becket suggested. "We could call him Eddy." She smiled and shook her head as her husband put his hand on her stomach; his other arm still around her waist; and caressed it a few times seeming to be thinking that over. "Why don't we think of some names we like, but wait to see what the baby is before we label it? After all, my parents didn't have a name for me until I was born."

"We could do that," Castle said though he didn't move his hand. "But I should probably share any ideas I get with you I'm sure."

"Of course. So no Smee, no Tyrone, and girl's names?" Beckett asked.

"Not sure, to tell you the truth I haven't been thinking of them that much," Castle said. "I think it's because that's what happened when Alexis was born," he told his wife as she looked at him questioningly. "Meredith was sure she was carrying a boy, but my mom knew it was going to be a girl. So while Meredith rattled off boy names, I wasn't so sure, because Mother was pretty uncanny in knowing. Oh, and that's a warning, if you don't want her telling her what you're carrying once you're showing, mention that to her."

"I'll keep that in mind," Beckett said with a smile. "Who chose the name Alexis?"

"I did, the second I held her," Castle said. "I was thinking of my former middle name, and I nearly suggested Alexandra. But looking at this tiny baby in my arms, it was too heavy a name. So Alexis worked better and it fit her too."

Nodding, Beckett said, "We'll decide together."

"We will," Castle said, nodding. "But what do you think of this?"

"You're thinking of druids right now even though these are mostly Christian aren't you?" Beckett asked as she watched her husband while he looked at the stones.

"Pretty much," Castle replied. He asked, "Pictures?" and when she gave him a look, took the bag she held so she could get her camera. He watched her take a few shots before he came up behind her and murmured, "You feel it here too don't you?"

"I…" Beckett started to say, ready to deny it. But finally she gave up and said, "I do, which is really a weird feeling, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it."

"It's the land," Castle said, taking her hand as they stared at the five stones either standing straight, leaning or on the ground. "I don't think it's supernatural," he said quickly when she looked at him. "I think it's the fact it's in your blood… the energy of it. And again, not supernatural, but that rhythm we've talked about that everything has."

"We've lived in New York all our lives though," Beckett said, still hesitant to accept that.

"But we come from a long line of Irish, it's got to be passed down," Castle said. He saw by the expression on Beckett's face that she finally accepted it and he told her, "If we go to Spain, then we have to see if you feel that same pull to the land." He laughed when she pushed at him and taking her hand asked, "Should we give them a call?"

"Sure," Beckett said. As they were leaving the stones and heading back to the manor she took a moment before she said, "It feels right to be here."

"I got that too, the first time I came here and now too," Castle said, nodding in agreement to that. "But you accept that right? Don't try to deny it because again, it's not supernatural, it's nature."

Smiling at that, Beckett nodded, conceding, but she was quiet the rest of the way up to their room before they were talking to their family on Skype. "Hey sweetie," she said when she saw Julia on the screen of the tablet.

"Hi Mommy!" the little girl said happily before she saw Castle. "Hi Daddy! Guess what? We saw where you are now, it's soo pretty!"

"It is," Castle said. "Tell us what you did today."

Julia was able to tell them that quickly, as it was just spending the day at the beach with everyone and the Fosters. She then asked them eagerly, "What did you do?"

"We went to Blarney Castle," Beckett said. "And we kissed the Blarney Stone."

"Ooh, Grandpapa told me you might go there 'cause that's a big thing, and they had it on the page of where you are staying," Julia told them.

"How was the experience?" Martha asked.

"Pretty fun and the grounds of the castle were amazing," Beckett replied.

"We'll take you guys there too," Castle said. "And after we went to Dunmore Head, which is the westernmost point of Ireland," he told Julia.

"Could we see you there?" the little girl asked.

"I don't think so sweetie," Beckett said, fighting back a laugh at how earnest she was saying that. "But it was beautiful; I took a lot of pictures."

"And after?" Julia prompted.

"A little bit of swimming," Castle said simply. "And then for dinner we had a picnic out by the river next to the manor, then we went to see the Ogham stones, which your mom took pictures of, we'll show you them when we come home. And after that we came up to the room to talk with you."

"Can I go swimming in the pool?" Julia then asked her parents.

"You can sweetie. I think we should let them go," Beckett said then, looking at her watch. "We have time to go swimming again. We'll talk longer tomorrow."

"How are you doing Katie?" Jim asked then.

"I'm fine Dad," Beckett assured him. "Just a little fatigued now and then, but I'm resting when I can. He's making sure I do. We'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yes, go and swim," Martha said. "And have fun while you're there."

"Also tomorrow wherever you end up going," Alexis told them.

"Yeah, I wanna hear where that is," Julia said firmly, making everyone laugh. "Night Daddy, love you," she said, waving to him.

"Night Julia, I love you too," Castle replied.

"Goodnight sweetie, I love you," Beckett then said.

"Night Mommy, I love you," Julia said.

After they'd said goodnight to the others, Castle turned off the screen and looking at his wife asked, "You are okay right?"

"I'm actually not that tired," Beckett said with a smile as she knew he was referring to that moment and not in general. "Let's go swimming," she told him before she stood, grabbing his hand to pull him along with her as he was quick to follow her lead.

* * *

Coming back to their chairs, Castle smiled and held up the glass saying, "Dessert," as she looked at it.

"Which is a… cake?" Beckett asked.

"It's called Eton mess," Castle told her. "I had it here; I think that was the only dessert I had here. But it's really good. Sit with me," he told her. "Or are you going to swim more?"

"No, I'm done," Beckett said. "But shouldn't we go? It's past ten now."

"I asked the guy when I ordered, he said we could stay in the chairs, but no more swimming," Castle said.

"So why did you ask…" Beckett began to say before her husband looked at her. She rolled her eyes though she was smiling at the same time, and went to sit on his lap saying, "I thought you'd want to head up to our room."

"Not yet exactly," Castle told her simply, letting her take the first bite, watching her expectantly.

"Not bad, the berries help the sugar of the meringue and the…" Beckett told him, smiling at his look.

"Cream, yeah, that together with the cake is a little much, but fruit helps," Castle said, about to take the spoon. He smiled himself when she held out the spoon to him, and let her feed him, squeezing her side gently in thanks for that. They were quiet through the rest of the dessert, eating it by taking turns feeding themselves and each other, watching the view of the river and what they could see of the trees in the distance. "Want to know something I just realized," he told her.

"Tell me later," Beckett said, looking into his blue eyes and something in her felt like it was snapping. She wrapped her arms around him and nearly lost her grip on the glass she still held, kissing him deeply.

It took Castle a moment to respond to her, but he held her tightly against him as he responded the best he could as she was nearly overwhelming him. When he managed to get her to pull away, he was able to see then her desire and to what degree it was at; and he understood then. But he wanted to stoke the fire he could see deep in her brown pools and he brushed his lips against her gently, holding her back to keep her from kissing him roughly. "Come on," he said, his voice husky as he couldn't fight that. Once they were off the chair he left, handing the glass to an employee who walked up to them, and he led Beckett up to their room. He wasn't surprised when she tried to touch him on the way, but he finally held her close to him, whispering in her ear as they walked down the hall on the third floor, "Not yet."

Beckett was a little annoyed at that, but looking at him closely, she could see that he was serious, so she tried to calm herself down. It was difficult, more so when he went to where his carryon suitcase was and she asked, "You want to pack?"

"Not really, tomorrow we can do that," Castle said simply before tossing something over to her.

Smiling when she took the deck of cards, Beckett said, "Strip poker I would assume?" When he walked up to her she asked, "You remember last time what happened."

"Yeah, that was an odd place to get a paper cut from a playing card," Castle said, shaking his head. "But not on the bed this time," he told her seriously. "Here."

"Then you need to get some towels if we're really stripping down until one of us is naked," Beckett said as she took the cards out and sat at the table next to the bed. She proceeded to shuffle and asked, "Omaha like last time?"

"Five card, it'll be quicker," Castle said.

"I see, so despite the fact you're trying to make me feel like a nymphomaniac coming up here, you're in the same state," Beckett teased, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Of course I am," Castle said as he set two towels next to him. "Just deal so I can get my prize."

"Which will be what, because I could easily win too," Beckett said. When he paused to think she said, "Whoever wins," as she began to deal. "Picks the first position. And the loser picks the second-"

"Second?" Castle asked, watching her hands, a little entranced seeing the motions of them though he'd seen her do that before.

"You were already thinking of that too," Beckett replied, watching him as she picked up her hand once she'd finished.

"True, but I agree to that, winner picks the first, and the second picks… from the book?" Castle asked. When his wife nodded he shook her hand and said, "I intend to win."

"You always say that," Beckett replied simply, knowing he was teasingly taunting her. Looking back to her hand, she didn't react when she saw she had two queens, waiting for Castle to finish looking at his.

Not reacting to his poor hand, Castle discarded three cards and took another three from the remaining deck. "Alright, what do you have?" he asked.

"At the same time," Beckett said simply. She laid down her cards, not surprised when all Castle had was a pair of threes. "Pay up," she said simply, smiling widely at him as he grumbled at her queens. She gathered up the cards, watching him take off his shirt before she handed him the deck saying, "Looks like I'll be deciding in a little," to tease him.

"Depending on the next rounds," Castle said simply. "Or if you want me naked this second just tell me."

"Deal the cards, Castle," Beckett said simply, shaking her head. She was surprised when trying to shuffle some cards flew out of his hands and fell on the ground between them.

"Whoops, butterfingers," Castle said, saying the last word in a British accent. He got onto the ground, and as he did, slid his hand under the skirt of her sundress.

"Rick!" Beckett said, unable to see his hand since he'd blocked her view with his head. "Hurry and get up here."

Sitting back in his chair, Castle was smiling telling her, "See? I told you you'd be good at marriage."

"You're distracting me," Beckett simply. "Trying to throw me off my game."

"I don't think I need to do that," Castle replied, starting to deal. He looked at his cards the same time she did, and contemplated them for a moment as his wife put down one and got another from the deck. "Ready?" he asked, getting two himself.

"Yeah," Beckett said, putting down her cards, sounding frustrated. "Yeah, I thought you might have the better hand," she told him, seeing his straight. She stood up then and turned to him so he could unzip her dress, smiling as he started to touch her skin. "Too soon for that," she told him matter of factly as she turned around so he could see as she stepped out of the pale blue fabric.

"You're still wearing a lot," Castle pretended to complain as he handed her the cards.

"So are you," Beckett said, glancing at his groin. "Well, at least with that I know I'm not alone," she teased him as she saw the way his jeans were slightly bulging.

"Yeah, it's going to be pretty rare you are," Castle said, waiting impatiently for her to pick up her cards. He saw he had three fives, and he had to school himself to keep calm outwardly. He waited for Beckett to discard three cards, taking only one himself, and he nearly cheered out loud as he set down his cards before she said anything.

Sighing, though she was smiling, Beckett pulled off her bikini top, watching her husband watching her body. As she tossed the top aside, she stretched her arms over her head, unable to help teasing Castle a little more.

With his hands on the cards, Castle wondered if he was going to end up ripping the deck in half as his eyes were glued on her breasts before he looked up at her face and saw that she was watching him with an eyebrow raised. "I'm not really going to apologize," he said as he shuffled a couple times and then hurriedly dealt the cards, hoping his hand was bad as he didn't want to stop yet.

"Maybe we should have put on more clothes," Beckett commented absently, looking at her hand.

Looking up at her, Castle smiled at that, and said, "I was thinking that too but…"

"We'll get to things quicker with less," Beckett said with a responding smile to his. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Castle said with a surprise as he'd gotten two new cards but she hadn't taken any. They set down their hands and he grinned saying, "I was afraid we'd be finished."

"So was I," Beckett said, watching him closely as he unzipped and then pulled off his jeans. Seeing the bump his arousal made, she hurriedly shuffled and dealt for the last time that night, wondering which of them would end up winning.

After getting new cards, Castle and Beckett set down their hands and with his pair of jacks; he pulled on his wife's hand and made her stand up. "It was close," he told her, kissing her stomach before going down to kiss her mound over her bikini bottoms.

"So you won," Beckett said, trying to distract him as she slid them off. "What are we doing?"

"Come here," Castle said, standing and taking her hand. He led her to the windows directly across from the bed, turning off the main light of the room before switching on the lamp on the desk. "This enough?" he asked as he saw she was holding her arms crossed over her breasts. At her nod he went to her, taking her the rest of the way until she was leaning against the window. "You don't look so sure," he told her, studying her face.

"I just don't want someone to see us, but they'll just end up seeing my back," Beckett told him as they were both working then to open his trunks and get them off.

"They will," Castle promised her, kicking away the shorts before he went back to her. He proceeded to kiss over her body, his heart pounding as he was finally able to see her form completely, and his lips and tongue worked together until they reached her navel.

"Oh, wait… I'll-" Beckett started to moan as he dipped his tongue inside. The sensation was immediate, shooting straight down to her clit which he was suddenly rubbing, and she was leaning back against the wall, holding onto it tightly with one hand. She loved him doing that, but at the same time hated when he did since she could orgasm too quickly. But finally he pulled away, and she felt her knees were a little shaky as the double assault almost had her seeing stars it was so intense. "Love," she murmured, bringing him to her lips before they kissed deeply as he stood back up.

Holding his wife against him tightly, Castle kept that kiss intense for as long as he possibly could. When they parted, he nuzzled her lips before whispering against them, "I need you Kate."

"I know," Beckett murmured, biting her lower lip before he was suddenly taking it, nibbling at it gently. She cried out softly against him before he pulled away and she begged him, "Please Rick, now, I want you inside me now."

"Do you want me to fuck you?" Castle asked, carefully making her tilt her head back by gently pushing it as he ran his hand over her hair. When she nodded he murmured to her roughly, "Tell me what you want."

A thrill going through her at his demand; though it was without any malice; Beckett held back, wanting to test that power he suddenly had. She was startled; but in no way displeased; when he slapped her ass, firmly but not to hurt. She then had to quickly recover when he cupped it and pulled her to him, making her feel his arousal. "You… I want you to fuck me," she finally told him, unable to hold back anymore.

"Thank you," Castle said, his voice tinged with relief. He then helped her get up onto the slight sill that was below the windows, and he kissed her once she was set. "Good?" he asked, pulling away to breathe at the same time with her. She nodded, but then he then said, "Wrap your legs around me."

Beckett had been about to do that anyway, so she smiled and did so, and as Castle was distracted by making her slide her legs further up around his sides she wrapped her hand around his erection, making him freeze. She bit her lower lip again, and started to stroke him, not surprised when he started to immediately move in time with her, running her free hand around his chest, concentrating on his nipples every so often. When her fingertips trailed up to his lips, she wasn't too shocked when he took her wrist, and then grabbed her other as they stared at each other intently. She could feel in the way he was holding himself that he was tense, and she leaned up enough to kiss him before whispering to him, "I'm ready."

Trying not to shudder so hard he would displace her, Castle moved to enter her, breathing out hard as he realized rapidly just how ready she was exactly. Once he was inside of her fully, he began to move, breathing out hard once in his pleasure, before he got a hold of himself, trying to get to the point where he was fucking her as she'd requested. He let out a kind of groan that he hoped wasn't too strange, as she was moving with him quickly, but also working her sex around him. He leaned down and kissed her as he was speeding up, moving her against the window behind them.

Since her arms were around his neck, Beckett was able to move her hands to start caressing his cheeks, not surprised when he jerked against her roughly in response to the first touch. She opened her eyes as he pulled away from her, trying to pull him to her and relieved when he moved towards her rapidly at her touch. She brushed her lips in a long trail up his jaw from the left side of his chin, not surprised when he slammed into her harder at that point. When she got as far up as she could go, she moved away and descended onto his ear, nibbling at the lobe gently before his hand was on the back of her head. As he stared into her eyes, he was moving her so hard that if her back was something solid like stone, she would have smashed through the window. As it was, he was making her feel like she could scratch her way through the glass as she was clawing at it, pushing down against him, their hips smacking repeatedly and in very short periods of time. The pleasure was snaking all through her, everything mixing all together to form something so hard to resist falling into she was amazed at her endurance, hoping he was feeling the same as her.

Watching his wife, after pulling away slightly so he could do so, Castle was mesmerized at how she looked, the way her hips undulated against him. He let his eyes trail up her form from there, catching the slight glow of her skin in the dim light from the lamp to his left. When his eyes made it to her breasts his hands decided not to listen to what his body was trying to tell them to do, and he reached up, caressing the mounds fully with his hands before he rolled his thumbs over her nipples, watching her putting her hands on the sill on either side of her, leaning back further to give him better access. "Fuck Kate," he hissed, finding a sudden jolt of pleasure go through him as she seemed to nearly clamp down around him in response to his touch. He tried moving faster, but since he wasn't able to, he instead lowered his head to her lips, kissing her hungrily as she responded to that hastily as well. Their bodies working together, his hands trailed all around her from her breasts to her hips, feeling the rush the touch provided him. It was as if he was trying not to go crazy, but with what he felt, the results of that, he wasn't sure he wasn't going to start hurting her in trying to feel so much more.

Pulling away from him to breathe again; after their third kiss, Beckett whispered, "You… you managed to win…" trying to finish but unable to think out what she wanted to say. She wasn't too surprised when he was quick to brush his lips against hers, and she finally thought of what she wanted to say, telling him, "Managed to win me."

"Didn't win you," Castle was quick to correct, his teeth clenched together tightly. "Won seeing your body… your gorgeous," and there he started to thrust as hard against her in a rhythm of one stroke every two words. "Amazing, beautiful body you are giving me."

Startled and proud of herself that she wasn't embarrassed for her responding cries of joy at each of Castle's thrusts, Beckett raised her right hand to hold onto the back of his neck and used that as well for leverage. They were both using different means for that, and she suddenly want to feel him moving more inside of her. Though feeling the sweat on his skin, she knew there wasn't much he could do for that. But abruptly he moved his hands to the window, and was leaning fully against her. Luckily he'd put them on the glass in such a way that they were close enough to kiss, face to face, and she took the initiative to do so, crushing her lips to his. She ran her fingers through his hair, scratching at his scalp with her nails, feeling his reaction since she couldn't see him, their lips never parting much further than a few centimeters to suck in quick breaths of air. She was lost in her husband then, not really caring that she was doing that as she was enjoying the sensation of him so much. They kissed a few more times before they seemed to tense up, and he moved to her ear and began to whisper her.

"I need you my love, come for me," Castle said intensely as he caressed her cheek and then neck with his left hand, his right helping him move still. When he heard her slight moan in response to his tone and words, he murmured, "Do you want me? Want me to show you how much I love you, so you feel it, deep inside your body… your body that's all mine. Let me come so you can feel what's all yours now," pulling back to look into her eyes as he said that.

Unable to stop the cries coming out of her mouth at that, Beckett wasn't sure how it was possible that she could love him any more than she already did, but what he'd said did it. And throwing her head back against the window, she was nearly screaming her husband's name, not caring about the volume of it, just wanting him to know how much she was enjoying her climax as it struck her. It was a long wave of ecstasy that rushed entirely through her body, making her lose the rhythm she'd had with him, just trying to feel more than she was already though she became dangerously close to passing out as she was overwhelmed when he showed her why he was hers.

Yelling his wife's name into her neck repeatedly, Castle was holding onto her and trying to make sure he didn't end up actually shoving her out of the window he was moving against her so hard. But her arms were wrapped tightly around him, and in the back of his mind he felt a sense of comfort in knowing that they were together in the loss of their self control. Coming back to himself as he finished thrusting into her, he wanted to speak, but had to regain his ability to do so before he moved away enough to kiss her.

Once he pulled away from her, Beckett murmured, "I don't think I'm going to be able to walk."

"Let me take you over there," Castle said, moving away from her carefully. He helped her set her feet on the ground, and without letting her check to see if she could in fact walk, he was scooping her up in his arms.

"So you realized you just fell for that right?" Beckett said as he set her down on the bed. "I wanted to see if you could walk."

"I had a feeling you were fine, you weren't working your legs as much as I was," Castle said, going to his suitcase.

"How can you walk?" Beckett asked, not really bothered by the fact she was admiring her husband's entire back side as he dug through his clothes.

"I have no idea," Castle said, going back to her with their book. "So since you lost…" he told her.

"Don't get cocky," Beckett said, pointing at him in mock anger before she took the book from him. "Well, actually you need to be, come here," she told him.

"Not yet," Castle said, avoiding her hand that remained outstretched. He sat next to her and told her, "Since you lost, I'll say how this goes, and you open it at random. Provided it's not Shiva and Parvati doing gymnastics, we'll do it."

"And we both agree," Beckett said, smiling as he nodded his head a few times in quick succession. She held the book with both hands, and let it fall open to a page close to the middle. "Oh, that's…" she started to say.

"Wait," Castle said, taking the book and flipping to the back. "I forgot to say, this isn't just the _Kama Sutra_ apparently, it's got positions from the _Ananga Ranga_ ; which is for husbands and wives," he told her before he kissed her deeply, pleased at her immediate response. "And _The Perfumed Garden_. So, let's go back to what you got," he said as he went back to it easily since his finger was holding the place. "What do you think?"

"Where is that from?" Beckett asked, intrigued already by the way the deities were copulating.

"The _Ananga Ranga_ , so good choice," Castle told her. They studied it a little more before he set the book on the nightstand on his side, and moved to get on all fours on top of her. "I wish they'd explain how they started," he said, unsure how to pull his wife up to him.

"Let me…" Beckett told him before she wrapped her legs up around his waist, pushing herself up before he was putting his hand on the small of her back to help support her a little. She was just able to reach up with one hand, stroking his erection that wasn't quite ready for her yet, hissing and jerking against his fingers that had moved to rub against her clit. But finally they were both fully ready for each other, and he was sliding through her, both of them reacting vocally. With that she made the first thrust, feeling his surprise in the way his responding movement was delayed. She was relieved that they were in sync with their rhythm, not quite moving as hard as they'd been before, but enough to feel the force of their bodies crashing together. She arched her back slightly in pleasure at the feel of him, but with her hanging off of his hips literally, it wasn't much of a motion, just barely managing to do it. But the sensation of him getting deep within her with the way she was positioned made her understand the way Parvati in the drawing was almost smirking in her bliss.

Wishing he could lean down, Castle made sure that he was pulling up when he was starting to move out of her. The slight motion seemed to make his wife very happy, and he grunted as she reached up with her right hand to grab onto his left arm. He had to wonder how she was feeling, if the throbbing of her sex around him was the same kind of pleasure he felt. It was something he had often thought with her, watching her as they were making love in any way. But he knew in the end it was going to come down to one thing, the fact that he could satisfy her. So he pushed the idea out of his mind, and focused on her, going a little faster, but being very careful in how he did that. The end result of that immediately led him to grip her back tighter, since his measured thrusts were making Beckett cry out. He couldn't take it for very long, and broke their position, stopping and pulling her to her knees to straddle his lap as he got onto his knees as well. He smothered her lips with his own, kissing her so deeply that her moaning his name was a little lost between the two of them. But when she responded to him wholeheartedly, he was relieved and they began to fuck one another without needing to ask or tell the other they would.

Her hands cupping Castle's face again, Beckett could feel in the way he was clutching almost desperately at the small of her back that he was feeling a lot already. She hadn't been too surprised they hadn't lasted all that long in the position, since they had a hard time with being so far from each other. And that included herself, as she was quick to run her hands over his chest the second they were parting from each other after their second heavy kiss. She watched him closely as she did what she'd done earlier, rubbing her fingers over his nipples, but she did something different that time, instead running the tips of them over his skin so lightly that he was groaning in pleasure in response, sending a thrill through her body already filled with a lot of that going on from head to toe. Where they were coupled, it felt as if everything was either wet or firm, and everything was also burning, throbbing and aching making her wish that it didn't have to end.

When his wife moved her hands away after stroking her way down his chest as far as she could go, Castle moved his hands to her breasts, and proceeded to touch them. Caressing the mounds carefully; much as she had done to him; he looked up into her eyes and murmured her name before he was sure she was watching him. As he took her right nipple between his lips, he was relieved at her cry of pleasure and grunted a little against her skin as she clamped her hand around the back of his head. He had to watch himself then, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, but still wanting to arouse her. He was lucky he had enough experience of doing that in other ways to use it to his advantage, and soon he had Beckett losing her rhythm, making him grab her hips to get her back with him. He didn't mind that at all, and he moved from her other breast to her lips to kiss her as he was feeling the heat from the friction of their bodies moving together building even more. He looked at her intently, seeing her love for him in her eyes which startled him. But he recovered quickly, and kissed her deeply in response to that before she ran her nails over his back a little roughly.

Beckett was a little lost in Castle by then, she knew that time was passing, but the idea of thinking of how much had was laughable. Every part of her concentration was on her husband and all he was doing to her, making her feel. But trying to intrude on that was the way her body was tightly coiled in pleasure, only needing one last push to snap. And it came shortly after she realized that when his fingers began to rub at her clit in between them. It was enough, and as her whole body seemed to scream its ecstasy in the form of a white hot fire raging over her, she was digging her nails into his back, not realizing she was begging him again as she had the night before, to fuck her harder and how she wanted him to do that. There was a roaring in her ears as she just tried to hold onto her husband, keep a hold on her sanity before she felt him joining her shortly after.

Castle was with his wife in the fact that he lost control of his language, replying to her pleas to him, not sure if he was saying it in his mind or actually to her. But the pleasure he was feeling was overwhelming in its intensity as every inch of him was in the same sharp, electrifying heat she was feeling as well, and he knew he was never going to be able to stop himself. He moved roughly against Beckett until he found the last few thrusts of his body a little wild, but couldn't control himself in the least. When he stopped, feeling her limp against him, he was quick to move so they were laying down, feeling her heavy breaths as she was curled up next to him. "I adore you love," he finally said after they spent a nearly full ten minutes trying to calm down.

"I love you Rick," Beckett said with a smile. It wasn't a surprise when they were soon quiet again, letting the silence of the night come to them as they'd been overpowering it for a while by then. When he suddenly moved against her, she smiled to herself as he went to her stomach, whispering to the baby. "Why are you apologizing to it?" she asked in amusement as she could hear him easily.

"I was a little rough to its mother," Castle said. "So a little rough to it."

"I think it's pretty well protected," Beckett told him. "Believe me; I would have stopped you if it was too much."

Castle merely smiled at that, since he knew already his wife was right, and he went up to her, kissing her tenderly before he laid down on his side, putting his hand on her abdomen and squeezing it gently.

"Rick?" Beckett whispered. When he made a sound that seemed like it was a question she asked, "Is there something you want more? A boy? Or another girl?"

Castle looked at her and said, "No to your first question. But… if we have a girl, there's one thing I'm hoping for Kate." When she looked at him questioningly, he kissed her gently before pulling back and saying seriously as he stared at her, "I want her to look like you."

Beckett was incredibly touched at that, and to cover her reaction, she leaned over, kissing her husband a little more passionately than he'd kissed her. When they parted and were pressing their foreheads together she murmured, "I don't care what we have, but if we have a son or daughter, and they have your eyes, then I will see its father in them. And that's what I want with our child Rick, to see what you and I managed to create together with nothing more than our love becoming our passion that morning last month."

Leaning over a little more, Castle kissed her again, far more deeply than they'd done the previous two times, and he let that go on for a few seconds longer before he moved down to her abdomen. Kissing around the baby he told it, "We both love you already. And since we don't care what you'll be, I think your mom and I are both in agreement that we're pretty happy already and you aren't even here yet. We're waiting for you, impatiently, very impatiently."

At that, Beckett pulled her husband to her, and as she wrapped her arm around him tightly, she pressed close to him while his lips were on hers. She didn't move until she found it necessary to do so, and pressed her forehead against Castle's, their lips brushing against one another in tender, short kisses that were no less meaningful as their exchanged I love yous went through the room. The sound of them remained there as they shut out everything but one another in that moment, feeling their love strongly as they lay close together knowing their child was there inside her, between them and protected by them as she pulled her husband into another loving, sensuous kiss.


	21. Home Is Where The Water Is Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Sunshine Sometime by Paul McCartney, an unreleased track from his and Linda McCartney's album Ram.

Walking into the kitchen, Castle took the mug his wife was holding out to him saying, "Thank you love, I needed this."

"I wonder why," Beckett told him teasingly as he took a sip. She took his kiss and said, "Sorry about it being tea, but at least there was regular Earl Grey."

"It's fine, believe me, I'll take any caffeine I can get," Castle told her as he leaned against the counter, keeping his arm wrapped around her waist. "So we're leaving in a couple days."

"I know, but I really want to go home to Julia," Beckett said. She took a sip of her decaf Earl Grey and asked, "You don't want to?"

"Oh, don't think I'm that heartbroken to leave here, because again we'll be back. And we'll take other vacations alone together too by the way," Castle said. "But right now, I do want to go home, to our daughter and to our book."

"Which is still barely thought out," Beckett teased him. She set down her mug and wrapped her arms around him murmuring, "But back to those vacations, where will you and I be traveling to Rick?"

Smiling as he knew at her use of his name she was trying to get the answer out of him, Castle held the small of her back and said, "I thought we could continue our trips like this one; oh, and Tahiti. Where we spend time together-"

"A lot of it in bed," Beckett pointed out. "Or in coitus as will happen if we're away from said bed."

"True, but we have seen a lot," Castle pointed out to her. "Would you like to join me though, going?"

"Don't ask because you know my answer already," Beckett said simply before she kissed him tenderly on the lips. "And I'm actually ready for the next trip, but it'll be in a while right?"

"After the baby is born," Castle said, not surprised when his wife nodded in agreement. "But I have ideas of where I can take you already, and of course, we can plan together."

"I thought you were going to take over everything," Beckett said, shaking her head though there was a smile on her face. She leaned into him and kissed him gently before they parted and said, "I was going to make something, but didn't have the energy to yet."

"I can handle it," Castle said, looking inside the fridge at the food they had left. "Okay, pancakes I can make, and that's it, we'll need to eat lunch in Cobh, if you don't mind."

"I don't," Beckett told him, getting onto the island to watch him. She nearly laughed at his surprised expression seeing where she was and she wasn't all that taken aback as he went to her hurriedly, putting his hand onto her stomach.

"Okay?" Castle asked, looking up into his wife's eyes.

"I'm great," Beckett said, leaning down as he raised his head a bit to meet her half way. They kissed slowly and she sighed in pleasure at the sensation, but couldn't help be struck at the difference from their heated, passionate kisses the night before. Finally she let him go and watching him starting to cook said, "I was wondering, about tomorrow."

"Yeah," Castle said, surprised to hear some hesitation as she spoke.

"I was looking at our Ireland book just now, and I saw a place we could maybe stop at," Beckett told him. When he turned to look at her she said, "Powerscourt."

"You know, I had thought about putting that into our plans, but I wasn't sure if we could. Tomorrow we might; can you search it on the tablet?" Castle asked her.

"Sure," Beckett replied, getting down and going to their bedroom. She looked around the large room, and the large bed as well, smiling as her eyes went to the view of the stream outside that the house had ended up being right next to. When she got back to the kitchen she said, "We need to really thank Skye and Mary for this."

"I know, maybe one day they'll go to NYC and we can have them come out to stay with us," Castle replied, smiling as she got back up on the island. "Julia would love that since she wants to write letters to their twins."

"Think they would write to each other when they're old enough?" Beckett asked as she was looking for directions on the internet.

"Well, probably but not yet, the twins are only four now?" Castle asked.

"About that," Beckett said with a nod. "But I'm sure Skye or Mary will help them when it comes to that point… if they need it, and I'd do the same with Julia."

"So would I," Castle said before he noticed the expression on her face. "You find out how long it'll take?"

"Well, cutting through the countryside, it'll be three hours and sixteen minutes," Beckett told him. "Going along the coast, four hours and thirteen minutes."

"It depends on you love," Castle said, flipping his third pancake before setting it onto a plate.

"I think I'd like to go along the coast, but how would we do that?" Beckett asked him.

"Well, if we left at eight, we'd get there a little after twelve," Castle said while preparing the last pancake. "What time does the place close?"

"Five-thirty," Beckett told him.

"Okay, so we eat lunch in about an hour, that still gives us four and a half hours," Castle told her. "So I think we can do that."

"Which means we need to get to bed early," Beckett teased him as he took the plate to the kitchen table.

"Sure," Castle said. When he saw his wife's surprised expression he helped her down telling her, "You have to be exhausted."

"Slightly, but what if I wanted to? As I seem to be doing a lot already," Beckett told him.

"Well, you're two months, maybe that part of your pregnancy is starting to come to the front now," Castle suggested as he pressed his hand momentarily to her abdomen. "And speaking of two months-"

"I know, it's pretty amazing, it seems to have gone incredibly fast," Beckett said before she kissed her husband briefly on the lips before sitting. "I want to guess the wedding and then this honeymoon helped distract us pretty well."

"I second that completely," Castle said, dishing out the pancakes between them both. "So have you decided what to do in Cobh?"

"I still think we should have both decided; both our families left here," Beckett teased him. She paused as she was starting to open something on the tablet and when her husband asked her what was wrong, she smiled telling him, "You know, I keep forgetting, but our baby is going to be largely Irish."

"British too," Castle pointed out. "Since I'm nearly half. Well, from what I know about my mom."

Beckett didn't reply to that, knowing he wouldn't really want to talk about that subject in detail, and instead told him, "What I was going to say is that it's very funny we're bringing it here at only two months. It's just a very…"

"It's profound," Castle finished for her since he knew why she was having some trouble trying to finish that. "And for no reason, it just is. Again, I think it's that connection to our ancestry here. You know you might be feeling it more since you're pregnant."

"Maybe," Beckett said, since she'd stopped trying to argue the point, as since that moment in the woods outside Adare Manor, she could feel he was right. "Okay, so where I'd like to go," she said, realizing they'd gotten way off topic. "First off the Heritage Centre, it's got some exhibits talking about the famine and the immigrants going to the US and Canada from there; our families," she said as she knew he'd say it. "And they also have some things about the Titanic, since it stopped here before it headed into the Atlantic."

"It stopped at Queenstown, which is what Cobh was called before," Castle said. "That should be interesting to learn about."

"Also they have some things about the Lusitania, it sank near there," Beckett said. "Apparently the survivors were taken there."

"Okay, so it should be interesting all together," Castle said, nodding his head in agreement. "Not too macabre?"

"It's history Castle," Beckett replied. "And since when has anything been too macabre for us?"

"Well, for our honeymoon…" Castle said, shrugging. "But let's go check it out. Anything else?"

"The cathedral, it's supposed to have some great views, so I'm eager for that. And searching for pictures online, the interior looks beautiful too," Beckett said.

"Alright, so, you're done, and I'm done," Castle said. He then pressed his hand to his wife's abdomen and said, "You're all set there too little one, so I think we should go."

Beckett couldn't help kiss him deeply once they were standing; wishing she could convey to him how much it touched her when he was like that. She wondered if he would be like that all through her pregnancy, but with the way he held her firmly in his embrace, she knew that answer was a yes. Pulling away from him, she smiled a little before they lightly brushed their lips against each other and then hurried to clean up from breakfast, leaving for their room a short time later with their hands clasped tightly together as she leaned against him.

* * *

Walking across the parking lot to the entrance to the centre, Castle paused and saw that Beckett was still at their car, and he went over to her saying, "Hard to resist."

"I know, I'm surprised you didn't do much here," Beckett said before she let her husband take her hand to lead her to the entrance, tearing her gaze away from the harbor.

"Well, I just drove through going to Dublin," Castle told her. "I did go where we're eating lunch after this though. There you won't be able to stop looking at the view."

"I'll look forward to that, but after," Beckett said as they went inside. She paid their admission and they walked to the first exhibit, which was about the famine and emigration of the Irish from the seaside town. "Now I've been thinking more about my family," she commented to her husband as they looked at some statues of people "waiting" to board a ship. "I wonder how they felt exactly; going to a country they probably thought had streets paved in gold."

"You've heard that too?" Castle asked. "I think the Chinese heard that, since America was called _gum saan_ , the land of the Golden Mountain."

"That might have been because of the Gold Rush in California, and wouldn't they have called the state that?" Beckett said, turning from taking a picture.

"Good point and actually I should probably concede that to you since you took California history," Castle said. He frowned and said, "I just hope your family and mine weren't discriminated against once they got there but…"

"I know," Beckett said with a sigh. "But they were facing better than here," she pointed out to him. "Slightly depending on what happened once they got off their ship."

"I think it was a lot better than this," Castle said as they went into another room where there was a mock display of a ship's hold. Looking at the different dioramas with statues in them he said, "And they had to go for months like this."

"Amazing to see," Beckett said, taking a picture of each diorama. She refrained from taking a picture of the one in the middle on the bottom, guessing the covered of mannequins were likely there to represent the illnesses on ships and deaths as well.

"Want to keep going?" Castle asked, watching her holding her camera halfway up.

"Yeah, sorry," Beckett said, shaking her hand. "I was just thinking that I really wish I knew more about my family. I have no idea if my great… however many greats, grandmother had gone with her family, if she had siblings or cousins."

"What about your dad's side?" Castle asked.

"His ancestor came alone," Beckett said. "So it's how I know I had family around The Burren. But of course, after all that time, we have no idea where they are. And again, Beckett isn't an uncommon name here, so…"

"We could try and look into it," Castle said. "When we go home we can do some research."

"I think we'll need to be focusing more on our book," Beckett replied simply with a smile. She squeezed his hand and then led him to another room saying, "Now the Titanic," as there was a display of a figure standing in front of a large black and white picture of a ship being built. "How much do you know about this?" she asked him.

"A lot, it fascinated me that nothing more than an iceberg making its way from the Arctic could bring down a giant," Castle said. "You know, I even toyed with the idea of writing a book about it, so I did as much research as I could on it. But I never was a fan of the movie…"

"I'm not surprised, and my mom and I went to see the movie together," Beckett said. "But we weren't all that interested in it besides the historical stuff. So we didn't really care for the romance, but then again my mom and I were never into that."

"She was built by Irish hands," Castle commented suddenly as they continued on.

"I'm aware," Beckett said. "And this was her last port of call," she read from a plaque. She then took Castle's hand saying, "Sad to think of that."

"I know, but at least they're not hiding that fact," he told her, entwining his fingers with hers as they moved on. That room had different posters or items from the ship, and they split up, as she went to some plates and cutlery from the White Star Line, which the Titanic had belonged to.

Meeting up at the last display in the room, Beckett said, "I'm pretty sure the Lusitania is next."

"You're not thinking this is too macabre now we're here?" Castle asked as he took her hand. At her look he said, "Alright, but if you want to go…"

Beckett didn't reply to that, knowing he was joking, and they went through the next room before walking past a room made up to look like a parlor of a house. But reading the plaque next to it, she said, "It's supposed to be a hotel," looking at Castle who had joined her from looking at an old telephone and other items in a glass case.

"They're right," he said, reading the plaque as well. "You just went through the ship being bombed; you might have injuries or hypothermia from the water or are just in shock, and look at the décor…"

"Come on," Beckett said, taking his hand and leading him to the room to the left. "Three names, I thought it was pronounced cove," she said to her husband after she'd read the explanation of the town's first name, which was Cove.

"Read the last one," Castle said.

"In Irish," Beckett said, reading the description with the name Queenstown and then the one with Cobh. She then turned to him and told him, "Read that," pointing above them.

" _Idir na cogaí domhanda_ ," Castle readily said, not even needing to look as he'd see it when they'd walked in. "I don't know that much Irish, I swear, but I picked up on how to read it, especially after driving around last time."

Smiling as she remembered at the road signs in Irish and English as they'd driven around the country, Beckett said, "Does it mean between the world wars?" When her husband looked at her in surprise she said, "I know the Irish word for world, _domhan_. My grandmother had some kind of certificate, I don't remember for what, I saw it last when I was eleven or twelve, and that word was on it. I just remembered it because-"

"It sounds like domain," Castle said. When she nodded he asked, "You want to learn it don't you."

"I would but only if we have time, we're going to need to get used to living at the beach house, write a book and also take care of Julia through the rest of my pregnancy," Beckett told him. "But… you're right, I would like to, I can't help it."

"I knew Duane and Norah would probably catch your attention," Castle teased her as they turned to the writing under the Irish he'd just read. "You did enjoy their farm right?"

"I did, I got to see their horses, so I'm pretty sure you should assume I did," Beckett said, smiling at him before he wrapped his arm around her. She couldn't help remember when they'd met the couple that had taught him how to ride and their experience seeing their horses.

* * *

_"Richard, it's wonderful to see you again," Norah said, shaking his hand. "We were hoping you might make it to us."_

_"Well, my wife loves horses, so I needed to bring her to see them," Castle said. "And of course to introduce you to her. How are you?"_

_"We're fine, let me give you my congratulations," Norah replied, smiling at Beckett who was next to him. "You're Beckett?"_

_"Kate," Beckett said simply with a smile. "Thank you."_

_"Not just for the wedding, but also your baby," Norah said. "It was in the message board on your website, someone in New York posted a picture of that announcement you had."_

_"So I guess people have seen it," Castle commented to his wife. "Duane," he said, seeing the man walking down the stairs slowly._

_"Sorry, had a fall yesterday, strained some muscles in my leg, but it's great seeing you again Richard," the man said, shaking his hand. "And your wife as well, come inside both of you."_

_"If you're hungry we have some tea and food, since it is lunch," Norah said. "Unless you were just stopping to say hello?"_

_"No, we'll be happy to eat here, but I wonder if I could ask about seeing the stable?" Castle said. "We're not going to ride, but I know Kate wants to see your horses."_

_"It's not a problem, eat though, please, I'm sure you've had a long drive since you started out in Donegal as you said you were going to do," Norah said._

_"I told them in my e-mail to them from the hotel up there," Castle explained to his wife when she looked at him._

_"Just to let us say when was a good day for you to visit," Norah said as they went into the kitchen and she poured some tea. "No, no, sit, please," she said as Beckett walked over to help. "Duane,_ _cabhrú liom_ _le do thoil,"_ _she told her husband._

_"How often do you speak Irish?" Beckett couldn't help asking as she sat with Castle at the table next to some windows._

_"When we don't want our kids to hear, and sometimes when it comes to mind, like then," Norah replied. "Sometimes we mix English and Irish."_

_"Your kids don't know it?" Beckett asked._

_"No, but our oldest is planning on taking it when she gets into her upper levels next year," Duane said. "Take whatever you'd like," he said as he set a platter with some small sandwiches on them. "Norah got these in town at the bakery."_

_"I'm wondering if you can tell us about your new book that's coming out later in the year," Norah said after she set down the tea things. "Is it your last Nikki Heat book?"_

_"It is, I'm actually going to be trying to write a book with her next," Castle said, nodding to his wife._

_"Try being the key word," Beckett said with a smile, surprised the couple sitting across from them seemed to be interested hearing that._

_"Will you be able to with a baby on the way?" Duane said._

_"Duane, I told you we're not invalids," Norah said, pretending to be mad. "Sorry," she directed to Beckett. "He's teasing me as I gave him all kinds of hell for treating me that way when I was pregnant. He wasn't serious, but he knew it was annoying."_

_"She's right, but Norah and I'll be looking forward to the book," Duane said._

_Norah then turned the subject to ask about Julia; since the announcement had said Castle was adopting Beckett's daughter; and the rest of lunch was spent talking about her, as well as the rest of their family. When they'd finished she said, "Go on and take her to see the horses Richard. Oh, and Fiona had a filly about five months ago, you might enjoy seeing it Kate."_

_"I would," Beckett said. "Would we be able to get close to it at all?"_

_"If you're careful, how are you around horses?" Duane asked._

_"I rode stallions in college," Beckett replied._

_"Right, then you have the patience needed," Norah said. "But Duane, go with them to see if Fiona will let them next to Bluebell; our daughter named it that."_

_Leading them outside, Duane took them to the paddock that was next to one of the stables, whistling to the mare in it to let them know they were there. "I need to get an apple for her, so she'll relax around you," he told Castle and Beckett before heading to the building._

_Castle was surprised when his wife suddenly started to click her tongue, and even more so when the mare whinnied before shaking its head and walking to them. "I didn't know you could do that," he told her._

_Smiling Beckett told him, "You've only seen me around stallions; you have to be a little easier with a mare; especially one that's a mother." She got up on the bottom rail of the fence as the horse neared them and whispered soothingly as she held out her hand to it. Very carefully once she knew the mare had her scent, she rubbed up and down its forehead and muzzle, murmuring softly as she did so._

_A little entranced watching his wife as the horse turned its head at her direction, Castle smiled as he turned to see Duane standing with an apple cut in half, watching Beckett in a little shock since she was by then scratching next to the mare's ears. "She's very good with horses," he told the man as he neared them._

_"I can see that," Duane replied. He handed the first half of the apple to Beckett and watched her murmur to the mare before it ate out of her hand. "Impressive, Fiona's usually stubborn with strangers."_

_"I thought so when your wife suggested you come out here with us," Beckett said with a smile. "But she just needed a little reassurance."_

_"Her filly is very cute," Castle said, watching it under its mother's tail._

_"How is she personality wise?" Beckett asked._

_"She tends to follow her dam quite closely," Duane told them. "And I hope you won't mind, I need to water some of the horses. Feel free to go inside."_

_"Are you sure?" Castle asked._

_"She can, you might make them nervous," the man clarified._

_"I'll be back," Beckett said simply as she smiled at her husband. She took the other half of the apple before Duane left for the stables, and once he had left she climbed over the fence. She gave Castle a look when he made a move to help her, but she was able to get to the other side without any difficulties. The mare had trotted away with her filly, and she walked along the fence to be even with them before whistling very softly._

_Castle had to wonder why it never occurred to him that his wife was actually a horse whisperer, he wanted to tell her that but the horses were just walking over to her, so he held back. He watched as Beckett took a few steps forward, hearing her murmuring but unable to make out the words. Looking on in amazement, he smiled a little as she held her hand out to the mare, and it walked to her, sniffing at it before going up to her face, neighing a little._

_"Easy," Beckett was saying in a low tone of voice before she started to rub the mare's muzzle. She was a little surprised when she was suddenly butted in the side, and she waved to Castle, who had suddenly sucked in a breath of air; telling him she was fine. She carefully held her hand out to the filly, looking at her mother closely as the pony sniffed at her fingers. With the pony distracted, she held up the other half of the apple to the mare, watched it eat it off her palm. As soon as it was finished, the horse trotted off, it's filly at its side. "That was pretty amazing," she said, going back to her husband as she went back to him and climbed over the fence._

_"I really think you could work at the stables near the house," Castle told her as they went to the stables automatically though they hadn't spoken of their mutual desire to see the rest of the horses. "Training the horses if you wouldn't want to try and handle the two year olds."_

_"You've watched them do that?" Beckett asked in amusement. When her husband nodded she told him, "You want me to?"_

_"It would be awesome to watch," Castle told her._

_"That wouldn't be because you want to watch me controlling a much more powerful animal would it?" Beckett teased him. "Some kind of fetish?"_

_"You said it, not me," Castle said simply._

_"Hmm, maybe I should try with you," Beckett said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "And change my mind about using a riding crop."_

_"Vixen," Castle whispered before she entered the stable ahead of him._

_Beckett wasn't too surprised when her husband kept close to her then, and she had to admit, she was enjoying it too. Something about the nearness of him as they were petting the horses was making it hard for her to concentrate. She watched him as they continued down to where Duane was with a pregnant mare, and when he met her gaze she smiled slightly at his look, knowing he'd picked up on her mood somehow as they looked into the last stall, watching the farm owner as he brushed down the mare. Leaning against him, she pressed her cheek to his shoulder as they listened to Duane talking to the horse soothingly in Irish, the lilting language calming in the stall._

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Castle asked as they stepped out onto the deck seating of The Quays, the restaurant he'd taken her to for lunch.

"I think you were right earlier; what you said about not wanting to leave," Beckett said, looking out at the view of Cork Harbour.

"Sit," Castle said, having to take her hand. He smiled when she looked a little startled at his touch and told her, "Didn't think you'd react like this," as he took her to a table right at the edge of the deck. "Or are you setting up shots?"

"Shots," Beckett said with a smile as she got her camera out of her bag. But instead of taking pictures, she leaned back and just watched the ships in the harbor, feeling her husband taking her hand. "You sat here?" she asked him after a few moments.

"Not really, I was actually in the pub," Castle said, nodding back to the building. "But I did take a look outside, so when I decided to bring you here to Cobh, I knew we had to eat lunch here."

Beckett didn't reply to that, watching with him as a huge cruise ship sailed to the south, before she said, "Funny to think the next time we're here we'll have the baby with us."

"I know, it is," Castle agreed. "But I'm looking forward to that."

"So am I," Beckett said, shaking her head as she smiled at him. "Just funny to think about," she continued absently, looking out on the water again.

"It's a good thing we'll be living close to the ocean," Castle said, wondering if that would get her attention. When it did and she turned to him he said simply, "It restores you doesn't it? And by that I mean your inner self."

"Have you been drinking?" Beckett asked teasingly.

"No, but I will be in a second," Castle joked as their number was called. He kissed the back of his wife's hand then, and went inside, wondering if she'd think on that idea while he was gone.

Beckett's gaze naturally went back to the water, and she had to concede in her mind that he was right. She'd always found; even when she was a child; that the ocean was very soothing for her. She couldn't help remember when she and Julia had gone there with Castle, how much it had helped them both after Queens. The sudden homesickness that struck her was a little overwhelming, and it was a relief when her husband came out to the table.

"Hey, you okay?" Castle asked in concern when he saw the look on his wife's face.

"Yeah, I just… suddenly got homesick," Beckett told him, not wanting to lie to him. "Really badly."

"Do you want to call Julia when we get back to the house?" Castle asked her as he set her plate in front of her, along with her mineral water.

"No, I'm okay, I know we're going back soon, it just hit me," Beckett assured him, squeezing his arm. "So you were here before," she said to change the subject. "How was the food then?"

"Pretty good," Castle told her, allowing that. "I had what you're having, it's really good, and I was recommended what I'm having."

"Okay," Beckett said with a smile before they began to eat. She had to agree with his assessment after a few bites, and was about to tell him when he started to speak first.

"So barring the cathedral," Castle said, nodding in the direction of it. Since it was northeast of where they were. "And Powerscourt, what was your favorite moment of the trip?"

Beckett took a sip of water and considered him for a moment before she asked in a low voice as there were others at the tables near them, "Barring moments with you?"

"They're in a category of their own," Castle said simply, smiling when his wife laughed softly.

"I'll agree with that," Beckett said. She thought for a moment and then said, "I think the whole trip has been… incredible and I've loved every second we've had together. But if you forced my hand… all the time we spent at the manor."

"I thought you might say that, and I'll agree, though our drive around in the MG was pretty nice," Castle said, raising his pint of Guinness before tapping it against her glass.

When they'd finished eating, Beckett immediately stood with her camera and leaned against the railing. She smiled when she felt Castle coming up next to her and said, "I wonder if you bought this good of a camera for us to make sure I got back into photography."

"I might have had that motive, but whether or not you did was in the end up to you," Castle replied, watching her take a panoramic shot. He was surprised when she just looked at him, and then kissed him firmly on the lips. "Ah, so you don't mind."

"Let's go," Beckett replied simply as she was satisfied with what she'd gotten. Taking his hand, they went back to their car which she insisted on driving up to the cathedral. Getting out, she was already looking at the view of the harbor, as the church was on a hill.

Walking around to her, Castle watched as she took a few pictures and then turned to him. "I've seen pictures," he said quickly when he saw the question in her expression.

"Inside?" Beckett asked.

"No, just the outside, and of the view. Let's take a look inside and then come back outside so you can take as many pictures as you want," Castle told her, holding his hand out to her.

Studying him, Beckett stepped up to him and kissed him before sliding her arm through his, holding the top of it as they walked around to the entrance. "Not sure about walking into a church like this," she told him teasingly. "But I felt it had to be done."

"Glad you had that sudden inspiration," Castle told her. When they got to the doors they parted, and he waited for her to take another picture before he opened one for her. Walking inside, he would have whistled in his awe, but kept quiet as the hushed atmosphere reached them quickly. "Wow," he finally said to his wife.

"I know," Beckett said, smiling as it had taken him a little time to say that to her. She squeezed his hand then and took a picture before she walked down the aisle. Looking at the arches on the sides, she glanced behind to see that Castle was at a column of one, looking at the detail in it. She smiled again, knowing he was going to enjoy the architecture, and she realized then why he didn't mind visiting the church.

When he'd managed to tear his gaze from the top of the marble column, Castle saw that Beckett was taking a picture of the votive candles. He tried not to run to her, but walked quickly over and looked at the mosaics above the candles that she was taking pictures of. He watched her, never really getting tired of doing that, as he thought she held the camera in a very interesting way, her fingers framing the camera in a manner. He didn't know why her fingers were so enthralling to him, but never really questioned it, just enjoyed it as she patted his face playfully with her hand to get his attention.

"Done looking around?" Beckett asked him teasingly.

"Not in the slightest," Castle told her quickly, pulling her with him down the side of the aisle, looking at the carvings on the walls before they reached the front altar. He sat down on the front pew as she took pictures again, and when she went back to him told her, "You wouldn't have wanted to have gotten married here?"

Smiling, Beckett said, "I didn't know it looked like this. And I told you before, I didn't really want to get married in a church," keeping her voice down as he was doing. "Now if you had suggested getting married outside with that view…"

"I told you there was something about you and the ocean," Castle said. He was startled when in response to that she stood up, and he was quick to follow her, going with her back down on the other side of the church. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but guessed quickly that it wasn't something that was wrong; she just wanted to go back outside. So he followed her and once they were back on the south side of the church said, "After this is there anything else at all you want to see?"

"No, I just wanted to get these pictures taken before we go back to the house," Beckett replied simply, already photographing their view.

Castle nodded to that, and then followed her around as she walked to the north side, taking her camera at one point to take pictures of her before they took turns. When they got back to the south side, he got out his camera, and they took a selfie with Cork Harbour behind them, sending it to their family before they left.

* * *

"I can see it on the tip of your tongue," Beckett commented as she sat back on the lounge chair. "You want us to build a room like this around the pool at the beach house."

"I wish we could, but I like the pool as it is," Castle said to his wife as he was sitting on the first step after having swum a few laps in the indoor pool. He studied her then, and got out, sitting next to her as he set his hand on her thigh. "Come with me."

"Am I supposed to go on the slide?" Beckett asked simply.

"Of course," Castle said, helping her up. He took her around to the other end saying, "You know you enjoy it, so I don't know why you're trying to act aloof about it. You don't have to do that anymore with me Kate."

Beckett smiled at that, not surprised he'd caught what she'd been doing, and she said, "You can go ahead and go first," once they were at the top of the slide. She watched him go down it and then wait for her. "It just feels strange to be doing this without Julia."

"Not against the law to have fun," Castle said. "But if you feel like-" he started to say when his wife pushed herself down, and he laughed under his breath as she came into the water and swam up to him. He wrapped his right arm around her, pulling her to him before he kissed her deeply. But he didn't linger, as he could tell she was still tired even though she'd slept a little before they'd come to the pool. "So tonight," he told her as he followed her to the side to go down the slide again. "I thought we could play some pool."

"I don't know," Beckett said. "I haven't really played that much."

"I can teach you, you'll enjoy it," Castle assured her. "We'll have to get one for our home."

"Uh-uh, ladies first," Beckett said teasing, pulling on the waistband of his trunks and slapping his ass before he could go up the steps.

"Well geez Kate, if you wanted to go you should have just said," Castle told her in mock annoyance. He let her go then, but was quick to follow her to the top, kissing at her neck. "I'm going to have a hard time stopping myself back at home," he warned her. "I've gotten used to it."

"You've been used to it since way before this honeymoon," Beckett said before she slipped away from him and went down to the pool. She watched him going down, shaking her head as he let out a yell that didn't stop until he was underwater. She swam down to the shallow end, and got out, going to the chest under one of the windows.

"Are we playing again?" Castle asked, standing in the water as he watched her.

"Something else, volleyball gets a little boring," Beckett told him though she was throwing him the one they'd used the day before. "What about this one?"

"That'll get boring too," Castle pointed out to her.

"The ball is a backup game," Beckett said simply, tossing the inflatable raft to him. "I'm usually better at that," she laughed as it went to the side of the pool. She stood then as she watched her husband climb over the side, lying down to reach the raft. "Interesting position," she joked.

"I know, you should try it when you're not pregnant," Castle commented, looking at her. He ducked out of the way of a green ball that went with the game the raft was part of, and tried catching the other but missed. "I get the feeling this game won't be that fair," he said as she tossed the other balls to him and then joined him.

"We'll see," Beckett replied, seeing how the raft was floating in the moving water.

"Wait, before you start," Castle said quickly as she'd taken a red ball. "What do we get if we get into the right pouch?"

"Do we always have to do that?" Beckett asked.

"I figure it's either that or there's way too much competitiveness between us," Castle said. "And that really doesn't work for a husband and wife. Especially for us since we've only been married for twelve days."

Beckett merely smiled at that and she turned to him, making him lean down to kiss her before she told him, "That's enough incentive."

"We always do that though," Castle said. When Beckett looked startled at that he quickly told her, "No, I mean that's great. What I was thinking, was something different."

"Okay," Beckett replied, watching him as he looked at the four colors on the floating target board.

"Whoever manages to make it into the right color hole the most times gets the other to pleasure them tonight," Castle said, watching his wife to see if she would agree to that.

Thinking about that Beckett said, "And nothing right now?"

"You don't like the idea?" Castle said.

"I think you and I will both agree that we don't like that idea of waiting," Beckett told him simply. "So let's stick to the kisses, but add what you said later tonight."

"Alright, I'm game," Castle replied. "Go ahead love."

Beckett shook her head, and threw the red ball still in her hand, not surprised when she didn't make it into one of the holes. "We might not be kissing at all," she told her husband as he started to go then.

"I'm sure one of us will make it, and by one of us, I mean you," Castle said, throwing the ball that was yellow. "Again," he said when it bounced back into the water off the target. "I mean you."

Shaking her head, Beckett threw, and was surprised when the blue ball landed in one of the holes, and she smiled at her husband who teasingly slumped down and walked to her. "Oh stop, if you hadn't been asking for one of us to pleasure the other just before this I would have… actually no," she said as she wrapped her arms around him once he was leaning down to her. "I still wouldn't have believed it. Now come here," she told him before she kissed him roughly.

Castle groaned in pleasure at the suddenness of that, and held his wife to him, hoping she was going to end up winning; especially if it turned out she won like she had just done. He breathed out deeply once they'd managed to part and he cupped her cheek murmuring, "I'm not taking what I haven't won, just wanted to do this." He kissed her again at that point and much more gently than before until they had to let go of each other.

"You still have a turn," Beckett said. She laughed when he halfheartedly tossed and was about to tell him to do that again when he ducked under the water. She then understood why he'd done that, and had to wonder why it was that her fatigue could be so easily forgotten when they started to arouse each other as their kisses had easily done. She mentally shrugged, knowing she had time enough to figure it out, wondering how many chances she'd have as he came back to her.

After that the two were quiet as they became a little more serious in their play, exchanging a few kisses but not too many as the game was a little difficult for them both. Finally they saw it was getting later, and they wanted to swim a little more as well as use the slide since they couldn't resist it.

Coming out of the pool after swimming a few more laps, Castle walked to the chair his wife was back on and sat next to her saying, "So we should take a shower."

"I know, but do you mind holding off on anything?" Beckett asked him.

"Sure," Castle said before he studied her closely. "You know we don't have to do anything tonight, I wasn't kidding when I said you looked tired."

"No, I feel better," Beckett assured him. "But we do kind of need to go to bed early remember."

"Tomorrow night too," Castle said. "The flight is at seven and we need to be there at four. Sorry."

"No, better you had it that early," Beckett assured him quickly. "We'll be able to spend more time with Julia and Alexis. Remember we need to go to Columbia to make sure she's set."

"I know, I just wish she could live at the beach house with us and go from there," Castle mused. He jumped a little when his wife took his hand and said, "Wishful thinking, but we'll see her."

"Probably a lot; especially after her little brother or sister is born," Beckett told him. When he gave her a tender look she smiled and asked, "What?"

"Really glad you're not denying her that," Castle said simply.

"How could I? This baby is her sibling," Beckett said. "So is Julia," she told him. "You'll have three kids," she teased him slightly.

"That's fine with me," Castle said before he leaned over and took her lips with his. The kiss was slow, sensuous and when he pulled away he frowned saying, "I don't know if I can resist you my love."

"Tonight we have the chance, and we could tomorrow too," Beckett said, biting her lip hearing herself planning on making love with him with the tone of her voice.

"I know," Castle replied with a nod. "But we'll see how things go tomorrow. Tonight though… I need you Kate but I'm leaving it up to you."

"I'm right there with you Rick," Beckett said simply as she sat up. She wrapped her arms tightly around her husband as he crushed his lips to hers, not questioning her desire for him as they kept parting to kiss again, loving the fact that desire was as strong as it was as they kissed before they headed up to their room shortly after they forced themselves to get up.

* * *

Going outside, Castle was surprised to see Beckett had managed to slip out of the house without him seeing her. He went to her after breathing in deeply and said, "You shouldn't have told me that you only had the one dress."

"I know, but maybe I wanted to wear it again," Beckett said as she turned to him. She took his kiss and said, "You think I'll be able to play pool in this?"

"I think so," Castle said, knowing that was an open invitation for him to candidly ogle her. Which he did as soon as he'd kissed her briefly, and he couldn't help it, making her turn around.

"Really?" Beckett asked with a laugh as she was facing him again.

"I'm an admirer of all sides of you love," Castle explained, bowing slightly to her before he led her to the small table for two right next to the creek.

"What about unclothed?" Beckett asked as he helped her sit down, wanting to tease him though she was pleased with his comment.

"Then especially," Castle said, kissing her exposed neck since her hair was up in a bun. He loved her throaty laugh at that and he murmured, "I love you," sincerely into her ear.

Biting her lower lip, Beckett murmured, "I love you Rick," sharing a kiss with him that was disappointingly brief. But she consoled herself as she watched him hurry back into the kitchen and she looked back at the water, listening to it run past her. She touched her lower lip for a moment before looking up at the sunset as she was turned southwest. The colors were amazing, and she was pleased she'd taken a picture of it, giving it a caption of it in her mind as if she was making a book; though she and Castle had already agreed on doing that when they'd talked about their photographs from their entire honeymoon.

Seeing her husband's phone then on the table, Beckett took it, taking a picture of the sunset again, that time sending it to Alexis and typing, _Beautiful sunset in southern Ireland, still missing you but hoping your sunset is as beautiful as this_. She wasn't too startled to get a response almost immediately and reading the reply of Alexis typing for Julia which was, _Miss you both and will see the sunset later, but watch them with us when you are home_ , she laughed softly and heard the footsteps of her husband behind her which took her attention away from his phone.

"What is it?" Castle asked, going over to her by the creek.

Beckett let him read the exchange and smiled when he laughed at Julia's reply saying, "Who knows, our little girl might be a writer like you when she grows up."

"Like us," Castle told her simply. When his wife merely smiled in response to that he took her hand, kissing it before leading her over to the table where he'd set out their plates. "But that was a nice picture," he said as they sat.

"Speaking of pictures, did you get a folder set?" Beckett asked.

"I did," Castle said, watching her look at the screen as she began to eat at the same time. "Well," he eventually said when she looked up at him.

"I think you have the potential," Beckett replied. She had noticed his pictures on the camera were actually pretty good, so she'd asked him to take some with his phone, wanting to see if he had any talent. "You have that knack my dad taught me about, regarding being able to put your own emotions about whatever it is you're taking a picture of into the photograph."

"Really?" Castle asked in surprise. "I just took what I liked… which is the reason for that," he said then in realization.

"I might have to take you with me if I ever go out just to take pictures," Beckett said. "And you should really buy another camera. Or I can buy another one and you can keep that one," she then told him.

"I'll get another one myself, come with me to help?" Castle asked.

"Really?" Beckett asked with a smile. When he nodded she saw that he was serious, and she nodded as well telling him, "I'll give you advice if you need it."

"Great," Castle said. He then asked Beckett to tell him about the trips she would take with her father around the city. Hearing how much it made the two bond, he finally said, "I wonder if I could do that with Julia. But then I remembered that she goes with your dad."

"In the city," Beckett replied. "You could take her around the Hamptons or Long Island; take pictures of what you see there. And when we go to the city you can take her there too if we have time." She paused for a moment and then said, "Maybe you could take her to the library."

"That's true, she has said she'd like to take more pictures of it," Castle said. "I'd have to try and find out if you can," he mused. "What about you? You never really take her."

"I did in the beginning," Beckett said. "And remember, I help her at the Farmer's Markets we go to."

Castle nodded and then said, "Want to head back inside?" since they'd finished by then.

"I would actually, and play that game of pool you were telling me about," Beckett said, helping him clear the table. She dried the plates and forks as he washed them, and handing him the towel once he had finished told him, "I know the game. I just don't know how I'll play."

"Alright, well I'm ready to go so let's see how you do," Castle said. He went with her into the room and after setting up the triangle, he set down the cue ball. "Go ahead, I'll let you break this," he told his wife as she stood behind the white ball. "You know how to hold it don't you?"

"Yeah, I'm just wondering about how I should stand," Beckett said. "How would be the best way?"

"Like this," Castle told her, standing behind her as she leaned over. He put his hand on her arm and said, "That's good, I'll have to show you again in case you have a weirdly angled shot."

"Thank you," Beckett said, hitting the ball with her cue and watching the triangle breaking apart, the three ball going into one of the corner pockets. "So I need to hit the solids."

"Right, you have a pretty good shot over here, but it's going to be tricky," Castle told her. "Think angles love."

"Okay," Beckett said, leaning over. She was easily able to sink the seven ball and when she saw her husband's slightly startled expression she smiled and confessed, "Sorry, I already knew how to play pool since college, I was pretty good in fact."

"Let's see how good," Castle said, not really too surprised at her lying to him about that. "By the way," he told her as he didn't move for her to take her next shot. "You wanted me close?"

"Very," Beckett told him. She smiled before he took her lips, and was just barely able to hold onto her cue as she tried to wrap her arms around him. She could only end up using one, but it was enough as she was able to respond to him enthusiastically before they slowly pulled apart. "Is that for the first shot?"

"Do you want it to be?" Castle asked.

"No," Beckett replied, getting an idea then. "Let's keep playing."

"Okay," Castle said, not surprised that she was suddenly in a hurry as she set up her next shot. There was no surprise either when she missed, or he was able to sink in three of his balls before he had to let her go. As she was getting ready he checked his watch and saw they still had time before they needed to call their family, so he watched as she sank one more ball before it was his turn again.

Playing through to the end, Castle ended up sinking in the eight ball, winning their game before Beckett took his hand and they went to the family room where he hooked up his tablet to the TV there.

"Mommy! Mommy guess what?" Julia asked eagerly as soon as she saw her mother on the screen.

"Hey sweetie," Beckett said with a smile at her daughter's greeting. "Say hello to your daddy," she told her when Castle sat next to her.

"Hi Daddy! Guess what, I was gonna tell Mommy," Julia said hurriedly. Before they could say anything she went on telling them, "We went to the fair that we went to before, remember? And I played a game and I got another horsie," holding up a chestnut stuffed horse that was different looking from the one she already had.

"What are you going to call it?" Castle asked.

"No, I'm gonna give it to my little brother or sister," Julia said. "So they have one too."

"That's very sweet of you," Beckett said. "Did you win anything else?"

"No, I wanted to get another fishy, but Alexis said that Kauai might be too squished in his water," Julia explained.

"We were thinking of buying her a larger tank," Jim said then, since he and Martha were sitting on the couch behind the girls.

"But thought it would be better to leave that decision to you and Kate," Alexis told her dad.

"Thank you," Beckett replied. "We appreciate that. Tell us what else you did today sweetie." As their daughter talked excitedly about the time she spent at the pool and beach besides the fair, she leaned against her husband. When Julia asked what they'd done, she let Castle say first that they'd gone to the Heritage Centre. She told about the displays she'd taken pictures of, assuring the little girl she'd be able to see them soon, and they talked about their view at lunch.

"Ooh, it sounds so pretty," Julia breathed in awe.

"I have to agree with her, it does," Martha commented. "If you're still thinking of taking us there, I'd love to see that view."

"We'll take you," Castle promised. "And after that we went to the Cobh cathedral, and that was beautiful too. Your mom though; Julia; took pictures of the view outside mostly."

"I did," Beckett said when Julia looked at her. "And yes, you'll see them. Just two more days," she continued when the little girl looked like she was going to say something about that.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Alexis asked. "Since you said this was technically your last full day of sightseeing."

"We're driving along the coast to Dublin," Castle said simply. "And if we stop somewhere, we'll stop."

"And take pictures," Beckett said, smiling with her husband when Julia bounced up and down on the coffee table. "Okay, we should let you guys go, plus we're leaving a little early."

"Kay, will I see you tomorrow Mommy, Daddy?" Julia asked them.

"You will," Castle said. "And then the next day we'll be home."

"I can't wait," Julia said. She waited for her parents to say goodnight to her grandparents and Alexis before she hurriedly said, "I love you Mommy, Daddy, night."

"We love you sweetie," Beckett told her. "Night.

"Night sweetheart, we love you like she said," Castle told her. After he'd turned off the TV he then got everything set on the coffee table to grab the next day before his wife was taking his hand and pulling him over to the billiards room. It took him a little to recover from that, more so when Beckett wrapped her arms around him as she was leaning against the pool table and kissed him roughly.

When she felt Castle responding to her kiss, Beckett let it go on for a little longer before she was pulling back and whispering in his ear, "Take me here Rick, right now," looking into his eyes as he jerked away slightly, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Here…" Castle began to say.

"Fuck me, please," Beckett said, starting to pull the skirt of her dress up. She was startled when her husband took her hands and made them stop, kissing her gently.

"You do have a naughty mouth love," Castle said, getting the smile from her he'd been hoping for. "But tonight… let me show you something okay?"

For some reason, Beckett wasn't startled by what he'd said, following him as he led her up the stairs. Once they'd gotten to their room she followed him to the bed where he began undressing her, very deliberately. She felt as if she was going crazy with the way he was gently touching her skin as it was exposed, then having her help him with his own clothes, their fingers brushing together. She was aroused while he loosened her hair, but as he picked her up to lay her down on the bed, she found she didn't feel a need to fuck him as she'd professed against the pool table, but something else entirely. And as he got on top of her body before turning so he was at her sex, she realized what it was.

Without a word being said between them, Castle and Beckett began to pleasure each other, the room very quiet though it was slightly broken by their groans and sighs in response to what they were doing to one another. They kept on working, feeling like they were going very quickly, though it was in fact a good deal of time. When they finally broke, it was Beckett first as he concentrated on making her cry out his name, which she did a few times before calming down. For Castle it took slightly more time for himself to climax, as first Beckett needed to calm down and then move around to let him lay on the bed where she'd been before she started to work on him. But he lost it shortly after she had begun, her own orgasm having aroused him to no end. When he had finally calmed down, he took his wife in his arms and they lay there, breathing deeply as they let themselves recover.

Turning to look at him, Beckett touched Castle's bottom lip, smiling when he immediately kissed her fingers saying, "So you didn't want me before?"

"Oh, I did, don't worry," Castle replied. "I just don't want to wear you out for tomorrow. I can tell you really want to see Powerscourt since- love!" he groaned heavily at feeling her hand around his length, beginning to slowly run up and down it, working him up a second time.

"Thank you for that, but make love to me now?" Beckett pleaded, not caring that she was asking him so soon after she'd just brought him to completion. When he didn't answer she wasn't surprised, as she could feel him slowly become erect again. But he was taking some time to do that, so she hurriedly climbed on top of him and nestled him against her folds, reaching up then to brush her hair behind her shoulders.

Gritting his teeth together tightly as he watched her, Castle's hands clamped down on her hips as she began to move, rocking against him. He couldn't help move against her, feeling that she was already wet and he had to wonder if the little time it'd taken her to get him off before was enough to get her excited again. But in the same second he realized the answer to that, and he had to have her. Grabbing her, he was quick to roll her onto her back, sliding into her the next second before he proceeded to thrust. But as she'd asked him to do, he made love to her, carefully and calculatingly, watching her for her reaction, loving the way she wrapped her arms even tighter around him than they already were, crying out softly every time he sank into her.

Digging her fingertips into Castle's shoulders, Beckett kissed him deeply as he was close enough for her to do that while she was wrapping one of her legs around his waist and the other around his legs. It gave her a thrill to feel the difference between their hungry lips against each other as he was still moving slowly against her. As they parted, her lips were literally throbbing, matching the throb of her sex around him, her hips moving up against him as they had found their rhythm together. She was breathing a little harder as he moved down to her neck, brushing his lips against it, making her close her eyes tightly in pleasure at the sensation of his touch. At the same time he was doing that, she was running her hands up from the back of his neck to his head, feeling the shudder against her body as he reacted to her touch. She couldn't help it, making him move his head so they were kissing again. That time though, he was making it sensuous while their heads began to tilt back and forth slowly at some unheard cue.

Parting for a quick breath of air, Castle kissed her yet again, and put everything he had into that one. He was thinking the same as his wife before when their more passionate kiss had been so obvious as compared to their tender lovemaking and he wanted to feel that again. He had slipped his tongue into her mouth once more, but wasn't too surprised when Beckett was quick to force him back inside his mouth, which he allowed her to do that time as it gave him the chance to fight against her. But as it always was, the so called duel for dominance was more a chance to experience the pleasure of the conflict and not the duel itself. When he'd managed to get their tongues back into her mouth, he abruptly pulled away, as his hips had all of a sudden naturally angled themselves in a more downward motion, both he and his wife exclaiming with a groan at the same time as that let him sink inside of her further. With the explosion of pleasure that manifested as a heat that spread through his body while he filled her, he brushed his lips all over her neck and hollow of her throat until he felt her hands on the back of his head.

Arching her back instantly as Castle's mouth began to suckle at her breasts, Beckett was running her fingers through his hair, before her nails made their way over his scalp. The sensation of his tongue and mouth was adding to what she was already feeling and they were making it harder for her to withstand the pleasure. She drew him back up again, and as they proceeded to kiss, she tried to move her hips a little harder against her husband, trying not to speed up their rhythm in any way. It was difficult at first, but as more and more time went on, she managed to reach that point. She could feel her breasts aching a little, still feeling his mouth on them, could feel him deep within her, moving steadily in and out. His lips on hers, as they couldn't keep away from each other, kept her from getting off too quickly. But everything was building inside of her, making her tense as she wasn't sure she'd be able to withstand him for much longer.

Able to feel what his wife was going through in the way she was thrusting against him; Castle hoped she was able to realize he was feeling the same. They were still kissing, and he made the one they were involved in at that moment deeper as time was slipping away from them both. He had forgotten their plans the next day, even where they were exactly as he was losing himself in her. He groaned as he finally pulled away from her and stayed away, watching her as he continued to rock against her, trying to hold himself back. He could feel Beckett's fingers sliding over his back, making him shudder as her touch was a quick shot of adrenaline for him. As he watched her, something suddenly urged him to get her off, wanting to see her orgasm as she lost the last of her self-control. And reaching in between them, he started to do just that.

When her husband's fingers ran over her clit, Beckett was gasping out once, before another rub of his digits mixed with his member penetrating her deeply yet again. She was holding on tightly to him, and cried out his name heavily in ecstasy as her climax struck her, a little stronger than the time before. The pleasure seemed to rush continuously through her, down her form and concentrated at her sex, making her move against Castle hard and unevenly, forgetting that she'd had a pace she'd been sticking to for some time then. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to take it; the almost overwhelming force that had her writhing on the bed; when she felt him reach his peak. Holding him tightly to her, Beckett was completely lost to the feel of him moving harder against her, groaning her name repeatedly until they managed to stop some time later, breathing heavily as they slumped down on the bed.

Feeling his body still tingling, still throbbing, with the aftermath of his pleasure, Castle nuzzled his wife's cheek before he pulled away slowly, looking at her. "I was kind of quick, sorry," he felt he needed to say.

"We… Castle it's almost midnight," Beckett said with a smile as he moved to lie next to her on his side of that bed.

Looking over with her at the alarm clock, he saw that she was right and he said, "Okay, then I retract the apology. I'm glad I took my time, just felt faster than it was."

Beckett shook her head and said, "It was no less enjoyable though."

"I agree," Castle responded, but he was a little absent in his tone as he reached down to her abdomen. As he rested his hand against it, he looked up at his wife, watching her closely before he began to stroke her there.

"What?" Beckett asked with a smile. "The way you keep doing that apparently you want me to stop you," she teased him.

"Just giving you the chance," Castle told her before he kissed her, since as he'd spoken he was moving up her body. He started out carefully before he was compelled to make it more intense, not wanting to give up the feeling of her lips. He was pleased when she kissed him back quickly, and became so lost in the sensations she was giving him before he pulled back roughly to breathe. "I love you Kate," he told her seriously.

"I love you too Rick," Beckett replied, smiling as he was panting heavily as he was talking. She was a little startled when Castle moved abruptly, though she wasn't shocked as he descended to her stomach. She bit her still swollen lower lip at the feel of the very light, tender brushes of his lips against her. When she heard him whisper an I love you to the baby, she reached down and pulled him up to her. She cupped his face in her hands as her right thumb ran along his lower lip before he was pressing his lips to hers.

Castle kept the kiss very simple, pulling away after a short time to nuzzle her lips lightly and kiss her yet again. He kept that pattern up, kissing her then nuzzling her before he had to let them breathe for more than just a few seconds. Stopping though made him immediately miss the feel of her lips, but as he glanced at the clock out of the corner of his eye he sighed saying, "I should let you sleep."

"You're not tired?" Beckett asked with a smile, feeling his need but also sensing he was fatigued from the night before.

"Yeah, I know, last night I was rough again but someone was really pushing me," Castle teased her as he moved to lie on his back. He wrapped his arm around her and held her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead saying, "Nothing?"

"You could've just stopped," Beckett said in reply. "But I know how hard that can be, so I'll stop there. And I'll say goodnight love."

"Night Kate," Castle said, rubbing her arm.

Raising her head, Beckett shared another kiss with him, but as compared to before, it was short, and very gentle; but no less enjoyable. She settled back down on her side against him, falling asleep very shortly after she'd closed her eyes in her necessity to regain her energy she sorely needed for their return to Dublin.

Watching his wife as she slept, relaxed against him, Castle remembered something then he'd wanted to ask her after their time in Cobh. But studying her, he decided it could wait, they had enough time still together for it. He nodded off then with that thought in mind, the last thing he was aware of before that moment was Beckett against him. And that helped influence his dreams of her as they ranged the gamut from benign to a flashback of their second night in Adare, making his sleep especially enjoyable as he stayed close to her into the next morning.


	22. Feel Awakened From My Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so from here on in when there's dialogue that's in italics it'll be in Irish unless I say differently next to the dialogue. I would have translated the words into actual Irish, but it would be a little difficult for that, so I stuck with English in italics.
> 
> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Sat Singing by George Harrison, a rejected track from his album Somewhere in England.

Pulling her sweater down over her head, Beckett looked up at the mirror as the blue knit pattern covered the swell of her abdomen, and she brushed off some lint before she felt a slight flutter after that. Pausing in the motion of brushing her hair from her cheek, she smiled and pressed her hand to her stomach as she found herself remembering when she'd first felt that same movement earlier that November. It was hard to forget since it had been such a significant moment for her, her realization that her pregnancy was not something her mind had created as she'd told her husband after it had occurred.

* * *

_Inside hers and Castle's bedroom, Beckett walked over to her nightstand, grabbing the book she was currently reading, having wanted to show him a few paragraphs in it that she had thought he might like to read. It was then she heard what sounded like a child's scream, and though Julia was at school at the moment, she hurried to the window as a natural reaction. But all she saw on the beach were a few birds, so she shook her head, turning back to leave._

_Just as she'd taken the first step though, Beckett was almost jolted to a stop as there was a delicate flutter in her abdomen. She was frozen as she wondered if something was wrong with the baby, but a second movement and she was dropping the book in her shock. Placing her hand on her stomach, she breathed out heavily and then walked unsteadily at first to the bed before she sat down slowly. Tears welled up in her eyes that she couldn't stop from trailing down her cheeks, and she covered her face with her hands._

_"Kate, you find the book? I could have sworn…" Castle started to say as he came into the room. "Kate," he exclaimed when he saw his wife was sitting with her face buried in her hands. He rushed to her and once he was sitting next to her asked, "Are you okay? Is it the baby?" a little frantically._

_Realizing how much she was worrying her husband, Beckett looked at him and shook her head telling him, "I'm fine, I just-" before she was cut off by her husband starting to dry her tears with his handkerchief. Taking it from him she murmured her thanks and said, "We're both fine, I just felt the baby move for the first time."_

_"It did?" Castle asked, sounding eager and relieved at the same time. When Beckett nodded slowly he then made himself pay attention to her saying, "That's a good thing," trying to find out why she was crying._

_"It is," Beckett replied as she felt Castle wrap his arm around her shoulders. "I just… even though we haven't stopped talking about this, I really felt like this was just a… dream," she told him honestly. "But this…" she trailed off, looking down at her abdomen where her hand was resting. "It makes it real, not just a delusion in my mind."_

_"But you're happy," Castle said, still watching her closely._

_Beckett couldn't stop the tears again; and at that point she knew it was the pregnancy making her less able to control it; and she told him in a whisper, "The second I felt that movement I felt something. And when it happened again I know… I fell in love with this baby. It hit me, hard Rick. I love our baby deeply, already. I did before but now…"_

_Pulling her into a hug as he could hear the raw emotion in his wife's voice, Castle pressed his cheek to hers before he murmured; "Now you know you're carrying our child, that love is real too." He wasn't too surprised when she nodded in response to that and he said, "I'm just glad you don't mind it; that love."_

_Beckett smiled and told him, pulling away to look into his eyes, "It's what I feel for Julia. But it's an odd sensation." She dried the rest of her tears and then said, "Realizing you have life inside of you." She smiled as Castle's hand reached down to her and moved hers, watching it rub back and forth. When she looked up at him then, she was a little surprised to see him staring at her seriously before she asked, "What?"_

_"My mom told me about the first time she felt me moving after we heard Meredith telling her mom after feeling Alexis moving the first time," Castle told her. "And she said it was a profound moment for her too, that knowledge that there was a soul that needed her protection. It changed her life to have that confirmation."_

_"I'll have to agree with her, it does," Beckett said with a slightly wider smile. She squeezed Castle's free hand then and said, "But I love this baby, with all my heart Castle; it's a little frightening to experience."_

_"You didn't think you'd be able to feel it to that degree," Castle stated, surprised when his wife shook her head._

_"No, what I didn't expect was to be able to love the baby; already; for itself so soon in the pregnancy this much," Beckett tried to explain. "I love Julia for who she is, I love you differently for who you are. I love both of you with all my heart as well. And the baby…"_

_"For now because it's ours," Castle was able to finish for her. He gently squeezed his hand over her abdomen and he nodded in agreement to what she'd said, telling his wife. "I agree, you, Julia, Alexis, my mother, I love them all for who they are. And this baby too…" he said before trailing off. He then reached up and took Beckett's chin in between his fingers, leaning down slightly to take her lips with his own. He kissed her tenderly, gently, before they parted and he smiled asking, "Okay?"_

_"Very," Beckett replied, assuring him. She had to smile then when he got on his knees in front of her, kissing the curve of her abdomen. She made him get back up after a moment, and took his face in her hands and kissed him again. She kept it the same as before, but it was no less enjoyable, and she could tell her husband felt the same when she moved back._

_"Is it moving now?" Castle then asked as they pressed their foreheads together._

_"No, but you wouldn't be able to feel it," Beckett told him, smiling as she knew why he was asking._

_"What does it feel like?" Castle said seriously._

_Smiling as she thought of how to describe it, Beckett then said, "Did the butterflies at that place in San Francisco ever brush against your skin?" When he nodded she continued saying, "It's a little like that, a very delicate motion inside of me. When it starts kicking I swear you'll be the first person I tell so you'll be able to feel that."_

_"I hope I'm here then," Castle commented. "But you know, your appointment is in a few days, so I might be able to see it move on the ultrasound."_

_"You might," Beckett said. "Now though, we should try and get back to work."_

_"Are you sure?" Castle asked._

_Nodding, Beckett stood up and watched him retrieve her book before he walked back to her. When his free hand went back to her stomach she leaned against him saying, "I'll start showing more, soon."_

_"You can tell your body is changing already?" Castle said, looking over her form._

_"It is, but it's very slight right now," Beckett commented, running her hand over her abdomen as he moved his. She looked up at her husband as he covered her hand with his own and whispered, "I love you Rick."_

_"I love you Kate," Castle replied, leaning down and kissing her deeply. He had no idea what it was about that moment that made him feel closer to his wife; but he did. And something in the way she kissed him back let him know that she was feeling the same as well, making him deepen things as her book dropped to the floor yet again._

* * *

"You're miles away love," Castle said, coming up behind his wife and wrapping his arms around her. "Okay?"

"Hmm, I am," Beckett replied with a smile as she shook off her memories and turned around to face him. "I was just remembering the baby announcing to me that it had grown."

"Then I don't blame you for spacing out," Castle said with a slight smile before he leaned down and kissed her by brushing his lips against hers. "Your dad is on his way," he told her then. "And he should be here-" he started to say before the doorbell rang. "Now."

Beckett walked out to open the door, smiling as Julia hugged her tightly before she did and said, "Hey Dad, come inside."

"Happy Thanksgiving Grandpapa!" Julia said eagerly as Jim was hugging her mother.

A little shocked at being able to see the obvious evidence of Beckett's pregnancy; Jim had to shake himself rapidly to hug her back. He then picked up his granddaughter, sharing a kiss with her before saying, "I can tell you're excited to be back in the city."

"Yeah, are we still gonna go take pictures and go the museum?" Julia asked him eagerly as her grandfather shook Castle's hand.

"We will," Jim promised. He set Julia down and then asked his son in law; since Beckett was in the kitchen getting a glass of water; "Is she doing okay?"

"She's fine," Castle reassured him; having done so before on the weekends when Jim traveled to the beach house to visit them. "So yeah, the book is coming along well-" he started to say as Beckett was walking back to them.

"I'm fine Dad," she said before looking at her husband wryly as Martha and Alexis came down the stairs after changing into what they'd wear for lunch and their family dinner. "I know you've been asking him about that. And I wouldn't lie, I'm fine."

" _Sorry love_ ," Castle told her contritely.

" _It's alright_ ," Beckett replied, turning to her dad and seeing his amusement. "Our Irish is coming along nicely as you can see. Let me get you something to drink?"

"You can sit Jim," Martha said from the kitchen. "They should be here shortly, so we'll all be getting into cocktails mode. Well, cocktails and juice of course."

"She means punch and juice," Alexis corrected, handing Beckett's dad a glass of water. "It's nice to see you again Mr. Beckett."

"I'll agree, to see you and Martha of course," Jim replied. "The six of us haven't been together since Halloween have we?"

"I don't think so," Beckett said, sitting next to him. She shook her head as Castle handed her a glass of juice and said, "But that was a fun Halloween."

"Yeah, I liked being Paul," Julia giggled, sitting on her grandfather's lap. "And Mommy liked being John," she told him seriously. "Daddy almost got her to wear the mustache but I'm glad she wouldn't."

"That was an interesting night," Jim said, smiling as he had a picture of his daughter, her husband and the girls in their Sgt. Pepper costumes; Alexis and Beckett having switched at the last minute to dress as Ringo and John respectively. "And the costumes were of course nicely done," he said, nodding his head to Martha.

"We were lucky to find everything we needed here," Castle's mother said. "And-"

"That's them," Castle said when the doorbell rang. "Sure I couldn't interest you in some ear plugs?" he asked his wife as she followed him to the door.

"Very, because I don't think she'll react that much," Beckett told him.

"Five months almost," Castle told her. He laughed for a moment when she just made a mock impatient gesture with her hand and he opened the door. "Hey, come on inside. Happy-" he started to say when Lanie abruptly pushed past him.

"Easy with my husband Lane," Beckett said, smiling as he was obviously fighting a smile at the way her friend was hugging her. "You saw me less than two weeks ago," she couldn't help tease her as she pulled away and saw the doctor had an emotional look on her face.

"I'm sorry," Lanie said, smiling then at Beckett's tone. "Just happy for you girlfriend. We'll talk in a little?" she asked, looking down at her stomach.

"Later," Beckett said, nodding as Julia rushed into Lanie's arms after they'd let go of each other. "Hey Espo," she said to her former partner, hugging him quickly. "How are Ryan and Jenny?"

"They're good, he called me and told me that they're going to move into her sister's place for sure, since she's leaving with her husband and kids for Atlanta," Esposito said, having to quickly get over the surprise again of seeing that Beckett was pregnant. "And you?"

"I'm doing well," Beckett replied simply, looking at Castle as they'd guessed one of them would ask that. "Get something to drink though, and some _tapas_ , we're having an informal lunch."

"Can I sit with you Auntie Lanie?" Julia asked as she held the doctor's hand as they walked to the kitchen together.

"Actually, I need to talk to your mom a little," Lanie told her. "But after I'll sit with you okay?" When the little girl nodded and then went to her sister she looked at Beckett, seeing she was with Castle as they were holding plates, standing near the wine cooler. She could hear them murmuring to each other and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips as he touched his wife's stomach, turning her attention to Alexis who was trying to get her attention.

Once she had grabbed some food, Beckett went into the office, sitting with Lanie as she closed the door. "I would say this is incredibly rude," she told her friend. "But I get the feeling everyone expected it."

"I think so too," Lanie said. "So, I think what needs to be asked first is how is the marriage since the last time I asked you?"

"It's going smoothly," Beckett sighed though she was smiling. "But I think you need to stop asking that for now, we've only been married for nearly three and a half months, it's not a lot of time."

"Okay, then you and Castle?" Lanie said.

Groaning in mock annoyance though she had expected that question as well, Beckett said, "We're doing very well."

"How well?" Lanie asked.

"So well I'm exhausted right now, and I mean exhausted," Beckett said. "And it has nothing to do with the pregnancy… unless you want to count that influencing my desire for him."

"Great, because that's scared me for a while," Lanie said. At her friend's questioning expression she quickly explained, "I know some friends from work and school who lost their libido during pregnancy."

"Yeah, I had heard too from my friends," Beckett said. "Okay, so anything else? Can we go back out to the others?"

"How's writing with him going? Still good?" Lanie asked.

Smiling at that, Beckett nodded saying, "I'm surprised his publishers in the past didn't strangle him, he's a horrible procrastinator. I wonder how we'll do if my fatigue goes back to normal. It's almost back, but not quite there. But we still work well together."

"Okay, now we can go back," Lanie said simply and they took their plates and drinks out before she noticed Beckett pause in mid-step. "Moving?"

"Yes, it seems to be more active around this time," she replied as everyone looked at her.

"So I was just asking Espo," Castle said as Beckett sat with him. "How the last case went."

"Was it the brother?" Beckett asked; since their former partners had talked to them about cases more and more often as time had gone on and once she and Castle could feel 3XK or one of his adherents weren't involved.

"It was," Esposito finally nodded.

"Told you," Castle and Beckett said together at the exact same time.

"Man, even without working on cases, you two are still doing that," Esposito said, shaking his head. "How can you?"

"Believe me," Beckett said wryly as she stood up to get more _tapas_ before Julia joined her. "I've been trying to figure that out myself for years now, never got an answer." She watched from the kitchen then as Castle spoke with Lanie and his mother as Esposito was talking to her Dad and Alexis. She had to turn her attention to her daughter, helping her get some food before she went to Castle. She couldn't help remember the last time she'd seen both her partners and Lanie; nearly two weeks to the day when she had gone with Castle to their first excursion in public as husband and wife for the book party for _Hamptons Heat_ that was going to be released the next Tuesday.

* * *

_"You're not still worried are you?" Castle asked, squeezing his wife's hand as the limo pulled up to the building._

_"I wasn't worried, luckily the response has been pretty good to our marriage," Beckett answered. "I don't plan on talking to the media though."_

_"Never expected you to," Castle said. "And I'll zoom us right in, I don't want to think about what they'll ask about the pregnancy."_

_"You talked about that already Richard," Martha said since she and Alexis were with them. "And we agreed the main question will be if the baby precipitated the wedding. Which is ridiculous since you said in your announcement you were engaged for nearly a year before August."_

_"We won't pay attention if they say anything about that Martha," Beckett assured her mother in law with a smile. "I would like to call her before we get to the party."_

_"Sure, but she'll be fine. Serendipity and then a movie? She's having a great time with her grandfather," Castle commented._

_"I know, I just want to make sure she is," Beckett said, smiling as she knew that he was right. The limo stopped against the curb then, and she breathed out softly as Castle stepped out first, and reached back inside for her hand. Taking it, she adjusted her shawl as they waited for Alexis and Martha to get out too. She smiled back at her stepdaughter when she squeezed her elbow, and they headed past the few members of the press stationed by the doors. Luckily they only took pictures, and they made it into the lobby quickly._

_"Do you two want to talk to Julia too?" Castle asked as he and Beckett handed their things to the coat check._

_"We'll go in," Alexis said. "Tell her we love her and will see her tomorrow."_

_Nodding when his mother said the same, Castle dialed Jim's number on his cell phone as he followed his wife to the alcove he'd noticed, and when Julia answered, he put it on speaker. "Hey sweetheart," he said._

_"Hi Daddy, hi Mommy," Julia replied._

_"How did you know I'd be here?" Beckett asked with a smile._

_"'Cause you went with him," Julia said in a matter of fact tone. "Are you at the party?"_

_"Almost, we just wanted to make sure that you were having fun sweetie," Beckett told her. "And your gram and sister want you to know they love you."_

_"Thank you and I'm having fun," Julia said. "Grandpapa and I are in a taxi to go to the movie."_

_"I see, we should let you go then," Castle commented with a smile. "We hope you enjoy seeing it."_

_"I will, have fun at the party," Julia said earnestly. "I love you Mommy, Daddy."_

_"I love you Julia, and we'll see you tomorrow," Beckett told her._

_"Night Julia, love you," Castle said hurriedly as he could hear Jim in the background talking to the driver. "Okay, now are we ready?"_

_"Have the picture?" Beckett asked in reply._

_"I do, you want it now?" Castle asked._

_Shaking her head, Beckett put her arm through Castle's, holding onto the upper part of it as they walked through the paparazzi at the door to the room the party was being held at. She was a little disconcerted with the flash of lights from the cameras, but was relieved when she and her husband walked inside so quickly there was only one question shouted out; if she and Castle were still happy together. "I think that's pretty obvious," she said, rolling her eyes as she saw the books in the middle of the room in a stack._

_"It is, maybe we should have stopped and kissed, really made out for them," Castle said jokingly._

_Rolling her eyes again, Beckett took his hand and pulled him close to her, kissing her husband very gently; not surprised at all to hear the click of the shutters behind them at that. "That'll satisfy them," she said wryly._

_"Why love, you are very crafty, I'll give you that._ A genius _," Castle told her, slipping into Irish to get a smile out of her. He was pleased someone behind them got a picture of that, and he then turned his attention fully to his wife asking, "Shall we mingle?"_

_"Let's," Beckett said, ready to face the questions from friends and acquaintances of her husband's she didn't know already and who hadn't been at the wedding. She was also ready for the women she could see in the room watching them, hoping she was prepared enough for the inevitable flash of a sharpie in their hands and hoping as well they'd wait to ask when she wasn't around._

_Walking around the room, Castle was stopped a number of times, people wanting to meet his wife. It was a surprise since a number of them already had met Beckett, but before they'd gotten married. He guessed the pregnancy might be why they'd wanted to meet her again, so he reintroduced her when he needed to. Eventually they reached where the boys were with Lanie and Jenny, and it seemed a relief to not answer questions as his wife hugged her friend tightly._

_"I'm sure everyone's asking you, but-" Lanie began._

_"I'm fine, so is the baby," Beckett said with a smile. "Actually, we brought a picture from the ultrasound," she told them all as she hugged Ryan and then Esposito quickly. "If you want to see," she said, hugging Jenny._

_"I don't think you have to ask," Ryan's wife said._

_"Here," Castle said, handing the picture to Lanie first after getting it from his jacket pocket._

_"You did a 3D one," the doctor said, startled to see the picture was of the baby's face and head._

_"We did," Beckett said, able to tell her friend was holding herself back._

_"So what are you having?"Esposito asked Castle._

_"We're waiting," he quickly replied. "We want to be surprised."_

_"Really, that much definition and you aren't tempted to try and see?" Ryan asked._

_"We are, but like he said, we want to be surprised," Beckett told them, watching as Esposito took the picture from Lanie._

_"I don't know, looks like a boy," the detective said._

_Shaking her head, Lanie said, "Yeah, you can tell gender just seeing the baby's face," her tone heavily sarcastic. "Or are you hoping for a boy so they'll name it after you."_

_"Whatever they feel like using," Esposito said as he handed the picture to Ryan and Jenny._

_"We'll give the baby its own name," Beckett said simply. "Sorry Javi."_

_"I'm just kidding," Esposito said before there was a short cry next to him._

_"Sorry, it is adorable," Jenny said apologetically. "Even though you can't tell if it's a boy or girl."_

_After Castle had the picture back in his jacket pocket, he and Beckett spoke to Ryan and Esposito off to the side of the room. They asked about the precinct, finding out two new detectives had come in since Dane who had sat in the desk across from hers had retired. The two men were almost as good as they'd been as a team of four together, so Gates was pleased with the situation._

_"I almost thought you would have invited her," Ryan commented._

_"It would be pointless," Beckett said simply. "And I can't really forgive her for making sure Castle was kicked out. Not after she knew how good he was."_

_"She couldn't forgive my methods, or theories," Castle said simply. "So no signs at all?"_

_"Nah, we would tell you as soon as we thought it was him or his students," Esposito said. "Things seem to be pretty calm, are you sure he was serious?"_

_"He might have learned to hide his victims," Castle pointed out. "But really guys, it's a party, you should get some drinks and relax."_

_Beckett murmured to her husband after Ryan and Esposito went to the bar and she headed over to Lanie who was talking with another guest. They eventually went to a table together and she said, "Ask away."_

_"You could tell?" Lanie asked with a smile. When her friend nodded she said, "Okay, so the book is going well…"_

_"It is," Beckett nodded. "The funny thing is, we're moving along with it pretty quickly. Well, according to Castle we are; he said that at this point he'd still be around the first and second chapters, we're nearly finished with the third."_

_"And how is it writing?" Lanie asked. "I think enough time's passed now that I can ask that."_

_"It has, and I think I have taken to it pretty well," Beckett said honestly. "But we'll see when this book is finished how it's received."_

_"Do you have a title?" Lanie asked._

_"That was the first thing we did," Beckett said._

_"Something with Moor and Green?" Lanie said._

_"I'm not going to say," Beckett replied with a smile. "We're keeping it between us until we need to send the book into his publisher."_

_"Okay, then show me the pictures," Lanie then told her simply. "Come on, I know you have them on your phone," she said, holding her hand out to her friend._

_Sighing, Beckett handed her phone after opening the folder in the gallery, smiling as she remembered taking Castle's picture for his about the author. He'd had the idea to take a new picture since she would need one for their books, and he'd taken hers while she'd taken his. "I told you, he's not that bad a photographer and you'll see when you get to my picture," she said as Lanie was studying the one of him._

_"No, you're right," the doctor told her, seeing her friend's picture next. She smiled telling her, "Hard to believe this will be on a book."_

_"That's if his publisher takes it," Beckett replied. "That's what it boils down to."_

_"We should probably get off that subject," Lanie then said, handing her back her phone. "Because I can see us going in circles with it. Tell me how Julia is doing; is she still enjoying her new school?" not surprised to see the way Beckett's face lit up at that subject._

_Castle was debating if he should go over to his wife later on that night; who was talking to some people they both knew; when a young woman walked up to him with a copy of Hamptons Heat. Signing it quickly, he nodded to her when she said thanks, and was a little startled when she took back her sharpie before leaving him. That had been happening every time he'd signed a woman's book, and he was a little startled none of them had even asked him to sign their chest. He was distracted then by an old poker buddy and he quickly turned his attention to him._

_"That's another one," Esposito said to Lanie. "You think she told him?"_

_Lanie didn't answer, seeing the way the woman who had just left Castle was glancing over at Beckett. She went to her friend and was lucky to get her after her current conversation ended, taking her back to where she and Castle had talked with Ryan and Esposito._

_"What?" Beckett asked, wondering what her friend wanted to talk to her so far away from everyone else about._

_"Have you been noticing the women going to Castle?" Lanie asked her._

_"I… no," Beckett said, looking over as one was talking to her husband then as he signed the book she'd given him. When he'd handed the book back, she had to smile a little as Castle had his hand on the sharpie on top of it, giving her the chance to ask for another autograph. But when the woman smiled and nodded, taking both back, she turned to Lanie._

_"They've been doing that all night, Javi noticed," she told her. "So I talked to a few of them, and they're apparently scared of you."_

_"Of me?" Beckett asked in surprise._

_"Of you," Lanie told her simply. "That dress is pretty tight Kate."_

_"I had to," Beckett explained. "For him," she said, nodding to her husband who was at the bar._

_"That makes sense, but you realize you can see your stomach really well now," Lanie told her. "It's more defined."_

_"The pregnancy scares them?" Beckett asked in surprise._

_"That and the way he keeps looking at you," Lanie said. "They know he's off the market, and they're afraid of you because they're thinking you're possessive since he obviously is too… not negatively, but in a healthy way."_

_Beckett glanced at her husband and bit her lower lip as she caught him looking away from her saying, "I didn't realize we were like that."_

_"You are, and they figured the signing of their chests is off limits," Lanie said. "Did you tell him that?"_

_"No, all I asked him was not to tell them to let him know when they're washing it off," Beckett said simply. When Lanie studied her closely she said, "I'm not kidding, as long as he makes it clear that he's not going to see them after he signs, I could care less. I know where he'll be at night."_

_"With you obviously," Lanie commented as Castle glanced to her friend then. She smiled when she looked at Beckett and saw that she was looking back with a responding smile on her face, telling her, "Should I get him for you?"_

_"That's okay," Beckett said. "He's coming this way."_

_"Then I'll leave you both alone," Lanie said, seeing Castle making his way over with drinks in hand. "Oh," she said, stopping before she could walk away. "Another thing; the dedication."_

_"That's telling them he's off limits?" Beckett asked with a smile._

_"Pretty much, plus the fact he obviously wrote that and because you're married and are going to have a baby. It's telling them you're wildly happy together," Lanie said before she left._

_"Anything wrong?" Castle asked._

_Beckett smiled and then said, "Did you notice how these women are after you sign their books?"_

_"I have, and I haven't signed a single chest," Castle said as he followed her to a table._

_Quickly explaining what Lanie had told her, Beckett teased him saying, "You should have kept your feelings more hidden; then you would be signing them all."_

_"Not really what I want," Castle said. "I mean, I would have signed if they asked, but the ink will fade, so in the end…" When he saw the look his wife was giving him he asked, "What?"_

_"Very sentimental Rick," Beckett said, leaning against him as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "But remember what I said, you can do that just not in front of Julia."_

_"Like I would do that in front of our daughter," Castle scoffed. He then reached to her abdomen saying, "Lanie's right though, this is getting more defined."_

_"I'm aware," Beckett said wryly as she'd been the first to notice her body's change when it'd become more obvious. "How is it though? Are they asking more about the book or us?"_

_"Us," Castle said, not surprised when she wasn't too surprised at that. "But they mostly ask if you're doing alright and if we enjoyed our honeymoon."_

_Beckett nodded to that and then said, "I might ask to take the limo back early."_

_"Tired?" Castle asked._

_"Slightly," Beckett said, looking him straight in the eye as she reached down and ran her hand up the inside of his thigh._

_When she pulled her hand away, Castle nearly let out a heavy sigh of relief since she'd been way too close to his groin. He studied her face then, seeing that she was serious, and he nodded saying, "You know, carrying a child it's natural you'll feel tired, so we should head back early. Just let me know when you're ready."_

_"I will," Beckett promised before they kissed gently. She heard the sound of a camera going off, not surprised since the Ledger was allowed into the party at his agent's insistence so there would be publicity for the book. When they parted she tapped her glass against his before they finished, and he helped her up. She brushed her lips to his; pleased when he was quick to kiss her back; and they then split up, going back to the party._

_After another hour and a half, Castle walked over to Beckett who was talking with his mother and he was just going to ask if she was tired, when Martha beat him to it._

_"Your wife is saying she would like to head home," she told him._

_"I was just going to ask," Castle said with a slight smile, as he could tell that his wife was trying not to laugh at his mother's tone. "Do you and Alexis want to go back with us?"_

_"No, no, we'll stay," Martha told him quickly. "We'll get home in a taxi."_

_"Alright, but I asked Esposito to get you a cab so you'll be okay," Castle told her._

_"He's always like this," Martha was telling her daughter in law. "Your baby will be very safe."_

_"I know," Beckett said with a slight laugh, unable to help it. "We'll see you in the morning Martha."_

_"Goodnight you two," she told them, watching her son take his wife's hand and lead her to Alexis._

_It took some time to say their goodbyes; luckily no one questioned Beckett being tired; but they were finally outside, getting into their limo. As soon as it had pulled away from the curb, she went to her husband, and kissed him deeply before he was wrapping his arms around her, pulling her onto his lap. She let him do that, but after a moment she slid off him, in another kiss with him still and not surprised at all when he was quick to follow her before they parted. "I'm surprised you don't mind leaving so soon," she teased him as he was sliding his hand under her skirt._

_"This is a lot better than a party," Castle told her. He kissed her again, hard, and when they parted he mumbled something in Irish to her; to the effect that he wanted her._

_Shivering when she heard that; as she couldn't deny there was something incredibly sexy about the way he spoke the language; Beckett reached down to his groin, cupping her hand over it and smiling when she could feel just how much it was he wanted her. Since they were separated from the driver with the window up, she reached up to the fly, undoing it with the ease of more than a few times performing that action. As she took his erection out, she looked up at him and took his kiss, not surprised when it was a little frantic, making both their lips swell slightly with the force of it. But when they'd finally stopped almost fighting with their tongues and lips, she whispered to him in Irish, "_ I need you too _," before she began to stroke him._

_Castle wasn't sure whether to be angry or relieved when they'd reached his building eventually; making her stop touching him to straighten up; but as he and Beckett rode the elevator up, he found himself tense, glancing over at his wife. When he saw she was in the same state, he hurried her out of the car and to the loft before pressing her against the door, kissing her roughly and making sure she could feel his arousal._

_It wasn't long before the two managed to pull apart, and they hurried inside the loft, the door almost slamming in the hallway before silence descended once again._

* * *

Opening her eyes, Beckett saw the light in the room was different and sighed, realizing that she'd been able to sleep for a little. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling, unable to help remember her dream, of hers and Castle's night after the party for his book. Shaking her head as she was in danger of losing herself to her memory of their rough lovemaking in that very same bed, she sat up and felt the baby move suddenly. "Hey," she said as at the same time her husband walked into the room.

"Sleep alright?" Castle asked as he walked around to sit next to her.

"I did actually, but it took me a while to get to sleep," Beckett said. "I'm pretty tired still."

"Me too," Castle told her.

"Is dinner ready?" Beckett asked, looking at her watch.

"It's-" Castle started to say.

"Mommy, Daddy, look outside!" Julia cried as she ran into the room then. "Look!"

Standing, Beckett followed Castle and their daughter to the window, seeing the snowflakes lightly drifting down. "I'm assuming you want to go outside," she said to the little girl, who immediately nodded. "Okay, bundle up and we'll go," she told her.

"Not for too long though," Castle told her. "Dinner," he said when Julia nearly skidded to a stop and turned to him to protest.

"You're not hungry yet?" Beckett asked as their daughter frowned at that.

"Yeah…" Julia said, dragging out the word.

"I'm sure it'll snow more at home if it's snowing now," Castle told her, understanding quickly why she was torn. "We'll play more there, for now we'll just take a look outside okay?"

"Kay, hurry and see Mommy, so the baby can know we are outside; I'll tell it it's snowing," Julia told them quickly before she ran out.

"Yeah, we're lucky," Castle told his wife, turning to her.

"Because she wants a sibling?" Beckett asked with a smile. When he nodded she laughed softly before pulling him down to her, kissing him tenderly before she watched him kneel, kissing her abdomen. "It's moving," she said hurriedly as he pulled back.

"Well, at least you let your mom sleep," Castle said to the baby. He let Beckett pull him up before he was saying to her, "Alexis was telling me," while they were getting their outer layers on. "That she saw on the blog on my fan site."

"The one you don't check anymore for some reason?" Beckett asked, in her coat, wrapping her scarf around her neck.

"Haven't had a chance," Castle told her simply. "No, she told me some people are betting on what we'll have."

"I was expecting that," Beckett said as they went out into the living room where Alexis was helping Julia with her scarf. "But it's not much in the way of odds," she commented.

"I know," Alexis spoke up. "But they're still doing it."

"Doing what?" Julia piped up.

"Going outside," Alexis said swiftly. "Gram, are you coming with us?"

"No, enjoy yourselves," Martha said from the couch.

"I'll stay inside," Jim said. "Be careful."

"We will Dad," Beckett told her before they left together. She was holding Castle's hand though their hands were a little bulky with gloves, and she squeezed it gently at the sight of their daughter jumping up and down in excitement. When they stepped out onto the roof, she couldn't blame Julia for her emotion; the roof was lightly powdered with white, more coming down from the grey sky onto them.

Going over to the table where some snow had built up, Julia suddenly slipped and sat down hard, laughing as her parents and sister hurried to her. "I'm kay," she told them quickly, standing up. "It's slippery."

"I know," Beckett said, her feet sliding a little on the icy floor. "I'm fine," she said, laughing when Castle quickly grabbed her. "What do you want to do sweetie?"

"I dunno," Julia said, looking around.

"We could always head back in," Castle suggested.

"You're being a mother hen again," Beckett told him as he hadn't loosened his grip on her. "Let me go," she told him. She was surprised when he did so, and she walked carefully to Julia saying, "You can make a very tiny snowman, want me to help?"

"Yes please," Julia said immediately. She went with her mother the rest of the way to the table, and she smiled up at Castle and Alexis as they joined them. "Are we gonna come always now for Thanksgiving?"

"We'll try," Castle said. "Why, do you want to stay at the house?"

Shaking her head, Julia set down the head she'd made, telling them, "I like coming here too, but Christmas we stay home right?" When her dad nodded she then said to Alexis, "And you and Gram come to open presents with us right?"

"We will," the young woman promised her sister. "This year should be interesting."

"I said no gifts for the baby," Beckett said with a smile as they watched Castle stacking the five sections of the snowman they'd made. "There is the baby shower," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry you couldn't get out of that one love," Castle told his wife as their daughters went to get something to decorate the small, tall snowman on the table.

"I know, I wish I'd been able to," Beckett sighed. "But at least Lanie's going to wait until after it's born."

"She planned it, that way she can buy our son sports themed stuff or else pink for our daughter," Castle said. "Depending on which way it goes."

"Oh, I told her not to do that," Beckett said, shaking her head. "Luckily she already guessed I wouldn't want that, so I'm not too worried."

"Look, we found rocks," Julia said, coming to them. She was walking slowly before she nearly slipped again, her parents grabbing her quickly and keeping her from falling to the floor. "Thank you," she said with a wide smile. Giggling she said, "Alexis almost fell too."

"I'm okay though," Alexis replied as she reached them and they all watched Julia putting the tiny pebbles on the snowman to make the face and buttons.

"Not bad," Castle said. "I'll take some pictures so you can show your grandparents when we go back in."

"Speaking of going back in…" Beckett began; looking up at the snow was falling harder then. "I think that's my cue."

"I'll go with you," Alexis said.

"Can-" Julia started to say.

"I'll bring her right back in," Castle said to his wife.

Walking away, Beckett nearly slipped that time, and she grabbed onto Alexis, apologizing quickly, "My first time walking on snow this winter, I'll get the hang of it soon."

"That's okay," the young woman said. "You're okay? I have to ask, Dad would want me to."

"I'm fine, I just hope he comes inside soon," Beckett said as they were arm in arm to keep each other from sliding as Alexis had just done so; staying up with her help.

"I'm usually not this clumsy, thanks," Alexis said before they entered the building. "I'm surprised you didn't just tell them to come inside."

"I think your dad needs a break from cooking, and there's no way I could keep Julia inside," Beckett said with a smile. "I wish him all the luck getting her to come in."

"Anything you want to do now sweetheart?" Castle asked as he was taking pictures with his phone as the little girl was trying to catch snowflakes with her tongue.

"No, we have to go back huh?" Julia asked, going over to him.

"I'm afraid so, but again, we'll have more chances to spend out in the snow at home," Castle said, holding his hand out to her.

"Will Mommy go outside?" Julia then said as they made their way back in.

"She will, I just was worried she might slip and fall," Castle said. "Are you okay?" he asked then.

"I'm fine Daddy," Julia said with a smile. She cried out when he picked her up suddenly and she wrapped her arms around him saying, "Why did you do that?"

"Just because," Castle said, knowing she probably wouldn't understand how pleased he got every time she called him that. He kissed her cheek before she was talking, and he tried to catch her question as she seemed to be very serious.

"Is the surprise gonna be ready at Christmas?" Julia asked.

"It should be," Castle reassured her. "I talked to your grandfather, and it's already being worked on. Let's just hope everything else gets there in time or else it'll be all by itself." He smiled when Julia nodded her head and he went down to his floor, seeing his wife watching for them. "That wasn't too long was it?" he asked her.

"No," Beckett said simply, getting Julia's shoes off to set on a towel with hers and Alexis'. "I didn't expect it to be, but just as well because you and I are going to make the yams right now sweetie, and then dinner will be ready."

"We're setting the table Dad," Alexis told him as he took off his coat and hung it up.

Taking Julia to the kitchen, Beckett couldn't help feel a little amused at the difference a year had made. More so because she and Castle hadn't even been engaged then. She looked over at her husband, but her gaze was broken when the little girl tugged her sleeve. "Right, sorry sweetie."

"This is a _sweet potato_ right Mommy?" Julia asked, pronouncing the words carefully in Irish when they were nearly finished making the dish.

"It is, great job," Castle said, coming over then to try and get some of the mashed yams on his finger before his wife slapped his hand away.

"They're done," Beckett said, shaking her head at him. She got the apron Julia had off, and then felt Castle untying the one on her. "We're going to eat right now," she told him. She wasn't too surprised when he leaned down; whispering into her ear, but at what he said she was tense, looking at him as he pulled away.

"I didn't know you two were teaching her Irish," Jim said, walking over to them then. "Sorry, but Julia's hungry," he said, looking over with them at the little girl who was looking at her plate.

"Come here," Castle said, going over to the table. He picked her up with one arm and got her food for her as the others followed. He was the last to get his own plate, but once he was sitting down he lifted up his glass of wine and said, "Happy Thanksgiving."

Saying the same, Beckett tapped hers against his glass before they did that with the rest of their family. As they began to eat, she asked Alexis about her classes, listening to the young woman talking eagerly about her psychology courses.

Eating some yams, Julia smiled when her sister assured her dad that she was doing alright at the dorm. When her grandmother turned to her, asking about her class, she quickly started to speak and said, "I love my class and I can play with Mari 'cause we have the same recess."

"Do you have any friends in your class now?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, they sit with me in a square," Julia said with a smile. "Lucy and Robin and Caleb, they're nice."

"That's good to hear," Alexis said. "What are you learning now? Anything new?"

As Julia chattered about everything she'd learned since the beginning of the year, she tried to eat her food, but found it difficult until Martha asked her parents about the baby's room. "They are working on it," she quickly said before eating some turkey.

"What she said," Castle said to his mother, smiling.

"We've ordered the furniture," Beckett said. "And it should be delivered next month. We painted the room and we have pictures ready to hang once we put the furniture in it."

"You're still having the sky theme?" Jim asked.

"Well, after talking it over once we started, we're not really having it be exactly themed," Beckett said. "We have the shells Julia got for her brother or sister, pictures of space; like the Crab Nebula; that she picked and-"

"Pictures of Ireland," the little girl interrupted her with. "We picked those together. I wanted to put a picture of The Beatles, but instead Mommy and Daddy got a picture from _Yellow Submarine_ , so it's ocean too," she said eagerly, wriggling on her chair.

"It sounds like it's more an ocean theme," Martha said with a smile. "What other pictures of space do you have?"

"The stingray nebula," Castle said. "And yeah, essentially it is ocean themed, since those pictures of Ireland are all of the coast."

"It'll be a pretty room when it's done," Alexis said. "That being said, when can we see it?"

"When the baby comes home," Beckett told them. "Sorry, but I'd like to wait until then." She then talked about Martha's student who'd been cast in a Broadway play, looking at her husband as she told them about going to see the production. She took his hand and squeezed it gently as they listened with the rest of their family to the story.

* * *

Holding the box to her chest, Julia ran out to the living room, showing it to her mother. "Can we play?" she asked her.

"We can," Beckett said, smiling as she saw it was the game Perfection. "Is that all you want to play?"

"She wants to play Michigan Rummy too," Castle told her. "And maybe _Cinquillo_ , but I told her we need to see about that."

" _Please_ Mommy?" Julia asked.

"You never said-" Jim began to say, looking over from the kitchen where he was helping Alexis with dessert. He stopped when Castle kissed his daughter and glanced at the young woman who was smiling as she cut up the apple pie, looking down at her work.

"Sorry Dad," Beckett said, looking over the back of the couch at him since the kiss had been quick. She glanced down at Castle's hand that rested on her stomach then before saying, "We're teaching her Irish as she wanted to learn."

"I asked 'cause it sounds nice when they say it," Julia said, sitting on her knees next to her mother. When Beckett had her sit back down normally she leaned against her asking, "Is the baby moving?"

"It is," Beckett said before Julia pressed her hand to her abdomen.

Turning to them, Castle shared a smile with his wife as Julia was pressing her ear to her stomach and he said, "Believe me sweetheart, I tried doing that but it's going to be a while before you can hear its heartbeat."

"You can hear that?" Julia said, her head shooting up, looking at her dad in surprise.

"You can, but your father is right," Martha said, coming down the stairs. "It will take a little more time."

Sighing Julia said, "It takes too long, everything takes too long."

"Sometimes it does," Beckett said with a smile, running her hand over the back of Julia's head. "Though the baby will be born, I promise. Now, are we ready to play?" she asked since her dad and Alexis had finished setting up dessert and had come over.

"I am!" Julia cried, raising her hand and wriggling her fingers. She went to her sister and grabbed her hand, pulling her over to the coffee table where Castle had set up the game. "I want everyone to play, please?" she said to her parents before asking at the end.

"If they want to," Castle said. "You first though."

Nodding eagerly, Julia waited, bouncing on her knees, as Alexis set the timer for her, and once it started going, she hurried to put the shapes into their spaces. She squealed when the board popped up and laughed as the others did at her reaction and she hugged her sister tightly. "Now you play 'lexis, please?" she begged.

"Alright," Alexis said, getting the pieces. "Let's see if I can do as well as you did."

"Yeah you will," Julia said, leaning over before pursing her lips. She smiled as Alexis shared a kiss with her, and then leaned on the table, watching her eagerly as she got the timer ready.

Since Julia was so enthusiastic about the rest of her family playing, they eventually did. Even Martha as she couldn't say no to her granddaughter, who hugged her tightly when she had finished. Once Jim had gone last and Alexis had helped her sister put the game away, they went into the kitchen to move on to the next game Julia wanted them to play and to get their dessert.

"Okay?" Castle asked his wife as they were last in the kitchen.

"Fine, why?" Beckett asked as she was getting some cookies Julia and Alexis had made the night before.

"I'm just wondering if you're still tired," Castle told her.

"No, at the moment I'm good," Beckett replied. "Get your dessert Rick, and let's play, because I get the feeling I'll be doing very well tonight."

Castle watched her walk away and shook his head before grabbing a couple things before he went to the table. "You want me to shuffle?" he asked Julia as the little girl had rushed to him once he was sitting down, handing him the deck of cards. When she nodded he set down his plate and said, "Having fun?" as she leaned against him to watch.

"Yeah," Julia said distractedly as she was watching his hands as he split the deck and shuffled them together. She kissed his cheek before going to her chair, climbing up on it and taking the cards he slid across the table to her.

"Alright, I'm going to use the other hand," Castle said, overturning the first one he'd taken. "Who has the five?"

"I do," Julia said eagerly.

Beckett put down the next card, watching as Julia was almost on the edge of her chair. "Easy," she told the little girl, putting her hand on her shoulder. "I know you're excited but-"

"Yeah, sorry Mommy I'll be good," Julia said quickly, sitting back a little. She smiled when her mother brushed some of her hair off her cheek and leaned over to share a kiss with her.

"I think one of you has the next card," Castle said, smiling as they were watching them.

"Sorry," Beckett said, setting down her queen of diamonds. She was a little surprised when the rest of the game was quiet, but guessed it was a mix of focusing on the cards, and also dessert that kept them from really talking until the end and she had set down her last card. "Do you want to keep playing this one?" she asked Julia.

"Do you?" the little girl asked, looking around the table at everyone else.

"I think you want to play _Cinquillo_ don't you?" Jim asked. When his granddaughter nodded eagerly he smiled and said, "I think that decides it."

"I'll get the deck and chips," Castle said.

As she watched her husband go to the office, Beckett felt her dad's hand touch hers and she looked at him questioningly.

"I was thinking about going over next month, things should be slowing down," Jim told her, not surprised when Julia immediately looked over at them when she heard. "And I might take off a Friday and Monday so I have a four day weekend with you."

"Are you sure?" Beckett asked softly. "Rick wants to start decorating as soon as we get back."

"We can delay it if you want," Castle said, coming back and hearing that.

Shaking his head Jim said, "I think Julia wants me to see," nodding to her. "And I won't mind doing that. But I don't think I'm ready to celebrate yet."

"That's okay, but I hope you will come and play in the snow with us," Julia said pleadingly, knowing about her grandfather not wanting to celebrate Christmas though not the exact reason why.  
"You can come," Beckett said, squeezing her dad's arm. "Whenever you like, you know that."

"Then we should start playing," Jim said, seeing Julia out of the corner of his eye was watching them a little worriedly. "I think we should let her try to deal."

"Can I?" Julia asked excitedly.

"We'll show you how," Castle said, sitting down next to his wife as he started to shuffle the Spanish deck. He wasn't too surprised when Jim ended up teaching her how to get the cards to slide across the table to everyone, his mother and Alexis applauding her first effort. He reached down to Beckett's hand on her thigh as she held her hand, squeezing it before she responded in turn, running his thumb along her skin before they had to let go to take their turns as the game began.

* * *

Hugging Julia tightly, Jim shared a kiss with her telling her, "I love you honey. It was really great to get to see you again."

"I hope you come to our house," Julia said earnestly. "That way you can play with me in the snow and see Mommy too, 'cause the baby's gonna be bigger."

"I'll make sure I go," Jim said, not surprised when the others were laughing softly at that.

"I love you Grandpapa," Julia said. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Jim set his granddaughter down and hugged his daughter tightly, murmuring to her before he waved to the others and the left. He waved to Beckett and Julia who were looking out down the hall, and then turned the corner.

"What did he say?" Julia asked.

"Probably something private," Martha said, smiling as Beckett hesitated for a moment.

"No, no, just that he was surprised again at how much I reminded him of Mom when she was carrying me," Beckett replied.

"Did he say the same thing when I wasn't born yet?" Julia asked as they were going up the stairs to Alexis' room.

"Something like that," Beckett said, glancing at Castle who just nodded once. Inside she changed Julia into her pajamas and helped her stand up on the bed as Martha came over to her first.

"Night Gram, I love you and will you come too?" Julia asked pleadingly.

"I'll see darling, I might start Christmas shopping," Martha told her before they shared a kiss. "But we'll have a family dinner tomorrow night too remember? So we'll all be with you then. Until then, I love you and very sweet dreams."

"I'll be with you," Alexis said, going over to hug her sister. "And for dinner too. But you do need to get some sleep so you're not tired for our trip."

"I know, but I'm excited," Julia said with a giggle. "Night 'lexis, I love you too."

"Love you Jules," Alexis replied, sharing a kiss with her.

"Okay," Castle said as he gathered Julia in his arms, holding her on his hip. "Whew, nearly six years old, you're growing up."

"Slow though," Julia quickly protested.

"You better be," Castle teased her as she giggled in response. "And I love you sweetheart, a ton."

"I love you too Daddy," Julia said. She smiled as her mother took her and asked, "Is your tummy gonna get so big that you can't hold me?"

"It might," Beckett said, laying her down on the bed before sitting next to her. "But once the baby is born I'll hold you both; just not at the same time okay?"

"Kay, night Mommy, I love you," Julia said with another smile at that.

"Love you sweetie, we'll see you in the morning," Beckett said, tucking her in. She waited for Castle to say goodnight to Alexis; since his daughter was staying in her room the rest of the night; before she went to the doorway with him, Martha waiting in the hall. When she was sure their daughter was asleep she went to her mother in law, hugging her tightly.

"A wonderful Thanksgiving," Martha told her. "Just imagine, this time next year we'll have the new edition, and it will very likely be nearly eight months."

"Hard to imagine," Beckett confessed.

"It is, but once this one starts kicking…" Martha trailed off as she touched Beckett's abdomen lightly. "But don't worry Richard," she said, going to her son and slightly pinching his chin. "I don't regret my pregnancy at all."

"I know I won't," Beckett said.

"Good night you two, get some sleep, you look very tired Kate," Martha told them.

"Night Mother," Castle said, his wife telling his mother goodnight as well. When they were alone he took her hand and led her down to their room saying, "Christmas should be pretty good." He paused in closing the door behind him asking, "Should we calm down on the decorations?"

"Not unless you're going to decorate like you did here," Beckett told him, going to where her pajamas were. "Are you?" she asked, looking at him closely.

"No, I like how we did it last year," Castle commented. "I just hope your dad will be alright when he comes over."

"We'll need to see," Beckett said simply, taking off her sweater. Removing the rest of her clothing she was aware she had an audience and looking at him said, "Get changed, the bed is going to be freezing."

"Sorry," Castle said, though he knew Beckett didn't mind him watching her undress; since it was then and when they made love that he was able to see her body and the changes that had come to it. "So," he said as she was pulling on her loose blue shirt over her head. "We've got an idea of what to get Julia right?"

"And your mother and Alexis," Beckett said. "The gifts are all set; we just need to buy them."

"Are we really not going to give the baby gifts?" Castle asked, changing then.

"You can get it something," Beckett told him. "But nothing too elaborate."

"That's fine, hard to get much since we don't know what it is," Castle said, going to her before she could get on the bed. He ran his hand slowly over the curve of her abdomen, smiling as it was so much more defined and he told her, "I was thinking about that party for my book earlier."

"Me too," Beckett said with a smile, not surprised in the least that he had thought of that. "What made you think of it exactly?"

"No, just remembering the way you looked then," Castle commented, kissing her shoulder through her shirt.

"Keep that in mind," Beckett said, teasing him. "I won't be able to wear that dress… actually I can't anymore, I grew already."

"The first is coming up," Castle said quickly, knowing she liked to joke about that with him since he was always so adamant that she was beautiful as her pregnancy had gone on.

"Yes, you can take the picture," Beckett said with a sigh. Since the first of August he'd been taking a picture of her naked on their bed in the Hamptons; they'd been moving some of their things there that weekend; trying to document her body through the months. She didn't mind it, as he always seemed to grow aroused though she kept her breasts covered with her arm and below her waist covered with a sheet. She sighed and said, "I wish I'd taken a longer nap," slight frustration in her voice.

"Well, you'd be making love to that," Castle said, trying to nod in the direction of his groin. "I'm completely wiped out, and I didn't do much."

"Don't sell yourself short," Beckett told him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You took care of almost everything with dinner, then won a number of hands of _Cinquillo_."

"Won for the night," Castle corrected her. When she rolled her eyes he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers before pulling back enough to tell her, "I love you Kate; I adore you."

Not too surprised when he pressed his hand down on her stomach again, Beckett kissed him, a little harder that time, feeling the same thrill of the touch between them. When she finally pulled back her heart was still pounding a little quicker in excitement; the reason why kissing him had never gotten staid; before telling him, "I love you too Rick. And I swear I would adore you too if we didn't need the rest. Later I will."

"So will I, another night I promise," Castle assured her. With that he took her lips with his own, feeling a shock that had stayed with him every time he'd kissed his wife since the very first time. He slipped his tongue into her mouth gently, before hers curled around his briefly and they slowly parted. Breathing in deeply he rubbed her back as they pressed their foreheads together, realizing suddenly that she wasn't shaking from pleasure; but from cold. "Let's get to bed, warm up a little," he told her quickly.

Nodding, Beckett got under the covers before she lay on her back, watching Castle climb in with her. As he usually did before they slept, he raised her shirt, kissing at her abdomen and murmuring a goodnight to the baby and that he loved it before he covered them both. She shared a kiss with him before pressing against his side. "Night," she murmured after the lights were off, feeling her exhaustion already.

"Night love," Castle told her, kissing her forehead tenderly. He wasn't too taken aback when she fell asleep, but as he started to nod off he nearly shook himself awake. But their passion the night before had been too much for them, too much for their energy, and it was with a slight sense of relief that he joined her in sleeping, his thoughts going back to another night they'd had together, in that very same bed. And as he came into his dream, kissing Beckett hungrily against the closed and locked door of their room, everything progressed swiftly from there, making him feel as if it were happening yet again. He still managed to regain his energy in the midst of the pleasure, not knowing Beckett was dreaming of that same moment, almost the same way as he was, their bodies remaining close in their unconcious desire for one another at what they felt and did in their dreams.


	23. Thousand Pages, Give Or Take A Few

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Paperback Writer by The Beatles, from their album Past Masters, Volume Two.

The dark line was blinking in a steady, unvaried rhythm on white. A dark line, then white, line, white, line white; which was hard not to see.

"Why did you stop?" Beckett asked her husband as they stood in the doorway of their office, with her a little behind him.

"See that line?" Castle whispered exaggeratedly. "It's like an eye, blinking at me, demanding more of my soul."

"Oh for the love of…" Beckett said before she pushed past him and as she went by, took his hand in hers. She dragged him to his desk chair and made him sit saying, "It's amazing sometimes you ever finished a book," her tone teasing though. "Now where did we leave off?"

Scrolling back up a little, Castle read, " _Green was sure Moor was trying to delay their investigation with the idea, but looking to Sky she saw that he wasn't far off in his theory_."

"Alright, that's the last time we should put that in," Beckett commented with a slight smile as she stood behind him.

"Too much like us," Castle said. "And I doubt a detective would throw out theories like I used to. Still surprised that Skye doesn't mind the name."

"She said it was okay," Beckett said simply. "Actually I think she was amused when I told her about it. So we need to work now on the idea of this mysterious admirer, should we make it an FBI agent?"

"I'm thinking an officer in the NYPD, at a different station," Castle suggested. He studied his wife as he could feel her behind him and asked, "You don't want to sit?"

"I'm fine," Beckett said with a smile, touching her stomach. At five and a half months she was obviously bigger, but wasn't at the point where she was uncomfortable if she stood for a while. "And I was sitting through lunch just now. Start with, Moor looked to his partner and asked, 'Can't admit I could be right Georgie?'"

Nodding, Castle began to type, smiling to himself as he realized how quickly he'd gotten used to his wife dictating some of the book. In the months since they'd settled in at the Hamptons, and began their book after that, they had gotten into a kind of rhythm together when it came to their writing. She had turned out to be good with the story; as he'd always believed; but she was also great at pulling him back if his writing started to tend to become a kind of prose. He took the next sentence, and in a short amount of time they had that paragraph finished between them. "Looking between the two," he said as he was typing so she could hear as he heard her pacing behind him. "Sky was a little unsure if she should get in the middle of their discussion, but was unable to outright leave since they were facing her. Finally she said, 'There is someone I should tell you about, his name is Samuel Gait and he's tried to assault me before,' not surprised when the two looked at her in concern…"

"Try they looked at her for a moment before Green strode to her computer, Moor following her," Beckett suggested.

"I love that," Castle said with a slight laugh as he typed. "Strode, someone said that when we were with Skye. And I could use that same word for you too," he said, looking over at her. He paused and asked, "Okay?" seeing she was rubbing her abdomen.

"I'm fine, it's just moving, a lot," Beckett said with a sigh. "Alright, how does it sound with that?" As Castle was looking at the screen, she cupped the curve of her stomach underneath, watching him. She stepped towards him, and then suddenly bent forward slightly, grabbing at the back of his chair, a slight gasp of surprise escaping her lips.

"Love?" Castle asked in alarm, turning to her quickly. When he saw the expression on her face, he stood up and took her hand from his chair, holding it tightly.

"It's okay," Beckett said, a sudden smile spreading across her lips. "The baby just kicked."

"It did? Where?" Castle said, his tone enthusiastic as he looked at her abdomen.

"Here," Beckett said, smiling wider as she studied him. She took his hand, and pressed it to where the baby first kicked. "Hopefully it'll do it again."

Standing for a while with her, Castle tried not to hold his breath in anticipation; but he'd been looking forward to that moment for so long it was difficult not to. It was then that he felt the soft tap underneath his palm, and he couldn't help laughing once in the joy at feeling what Beckett had for so long; their baby. "Wow, that's…" he said, shaking his head.

Smiling at his reaction, Beckett reached up and pulled him down to her, kissing him deeply as she felt the baby calming down. She was pleased when he wrapped his arms around her tightly in response, kissing her back deeply. She arched her back up as he slipped his tongue into her mouth, and as they carefully fought against each other she was tilting her head back and forth numerous times. Finally she broke away from him, gasping for air as they pressed their foreheads together. "Hmm, we'll have to tell Julia when we pick her up," she said, smiling again.

"I know, but that was amazing; I forgot what that felt like," Castle said, reaching down to her abdomen again. He rubbed his hand in a wide circle before saying, "It stopped?" When his wife nodded he said, "Probably tired out from doing that, but let's hope it'll do it for its sister to feel… if you're going to let her."

"I will," Beckett said. "I don't think I'd be able to stop her if I wanted to."

"That's true," Castle said with a slight laugh. "Okay, so… should we go back to writing?"

"I think we should," Beckett said. "But we'll stop before two thirty," she said, looking at her watch.

"You still want to walk to the school?" Castle asked her.

"The weather isn't too bad," Beckett replied, looking out the window at the driveway. "And I should walk anyway."

"Alright," Castle said quickly as he knew from her tone that she wasn't going to change her mind. "So let's get back to where we were," he told her as he pushed her desk chair closer to his. Once they were sitting he said, "We need to figure out what we want the information on Gait to be."

As they began to discuss that, Beckett was amused to see her husband's gaze going down to her stomach every so often, not really surprised at that though, as she'd expected him to do that more as she got through her pregnancy. But finally she turned her attention back to the story, giving him a few suggestions before he began to type once more.

* * *

Sitting on the bench by the front door, Castle watched as Beckett was buttoning her coat, waiting for her to finish before he said, " _Love, come here_."

Looking at him as he held out his hand to her, Beckett shook her head and went to him, not at all taken aback when he pressed his ear to her stomach. " _Anything_?" she asked, in Irish as well.

"Not really," Castle said after a while. "Again, hoping it'll kick for its sister."

"Give it some time," Beckett said simply. "But for now, let's go."

Letting go of her, Castle stood and took her hand before he locked the door as she headed down the driveway. "I have to admit, I've come to enjoy these walks," he told her as they headed down the street. "Never got to do this with Alexis. Actually, I never did it either," he said, thinking. "You?"

"Not really, I lived pretty far from my schools to walk," Beckett replied with a smile. "Though my elementary school was very close to the stables where I rode with my mom, so I would walk there and then Mom would pick me up."

"She rode too?" Castle asked.

"For a little if she had the chance," Beckett said with a smile. "I was really upset going to middle school because of that, but eventually got over it."

"You miss riding don't you?" Castle said, looking at her knowingly.

"I do, but I'm just putting my mind to late spring and then I'll be able to get back to it," Beckett said.

"We will," Castle corrected her. He squeezed her hand gently when she merely smiled, looking forward before he told her, "And Julia too."

"And Julia too," Beckett said, shaking her head with a slight laugh. She then felt her phone shaking in her pocket, saying, "A text," as she let go of her husband's hand. "From my dad," she said once she'd read it. "He mailed Julia's gift."

"I'm still surprised he does that," Castle told her. "Though why since she's his granddaughter I don't know."

"And a gift for the baby," Beckett continued, smiling at him. "I love how everyone listened to my request to wait until the baby is born."

"Well, for my mom she hasn't been able to buy a gift for a new grandchild in twenty years and is just now doing that for Julia," Castle said. "And while your dad has done that for Julia-"

"I know, this is his first biological grandchild," Beckett finished for him. "I just want to wait and see what it is."

"They know," Castle assured her. "And I don't think your dad would really buy anything too crazy. Remember he told you pretty much the same thing when he was here last weekend."

Beckett smiled at that and nodded in response as they crossed the street as they were nearing Julia's school. She couldn't help recall when her father had arrived at the beach house on Thursday night for his four day weekend with them, since it had gone well though the house was completely decorated by then for Christmas.

* * *

_"There's my granddaughter," Jim said, picking Julia up as she ran up to him. "How are you doing honey?"_

_"Good, go see Mommy, she wants to see you too," the little girl told him with a smile. "And she's a tiny little bigger."_

_"Okay," Jim said with a laugh before he reached the porch where his daughter and son in law were waiting. He saw quickly that his granddaughter was right, Beckett's stomach was slightly larger, but instead of being surprised, he smiled as he set Julia down to hug her. "How's everything going Katie?" he asked her._

_"Really great Dad," Beckett assured him. She watched him shake Castle's hand and then said, "Come inside though, I was hoping the weather would stay calm until you got here, looks like I got my wish," nodding out as the others looked to see it had begun to snow._

_"Oh!" Julia cried when she saw that. "Maybe now we can play in the snow tomorrow if there's enough."_

_"Come on sweetheart," Castle said as he held the door open for them. "And we'll see how the snow is tomorrow," he assured her as she walked inside with her mother. He followed them in before locking the door saying, "Would you like some coffee Jim?" At his nod he asked his wife, "Tea?"_

_"That would be nice, I'll go up with him," Beckett said as Julia looked like she couldn't decide where to go. "Help your daddy sweetie," she told her. "And we'll be right back."_

_"So the room is coming along?" Jim asked after he and Beckett were upstairs and passing the closed door next to Julia's room._

_"It is, which we're really happy about," she replied as she walked into his room first. "How are you though Dad?"_

_"I'm over my cold," Jim assured her. "Just a little winter sniffle, as your grandma called them. Sit Katie," he said as he saw his daughter was running her hand over her abdomen._

_"I'm okay," Beckett told him as he led her to the chair at the desk she and Castle had gotten for him. "I should warn you," she then said as she watched him unpacking his shirts for the weekend. "Julia's really eager to show you around the house, but she promised Rick and I she wouldn't." At her father's smile she asked, "What?"_

_"No, just you calling him by his name," Jim told her. "I wasn't expecting that."_

_"I still call him Castle, it depends on what comes to mind first," Beckett replied with a shrug. "But back to Julia, could she at least show you the gazebo?"_

_"That's decorated?" Jim said, turning to her._

_"Castle insisted that every year we decorate that the same way it was when he proposed to me," Beckett replied. "And I still can't believe it's been a year," she confessed. "It's both a long time ago, but only a moment if I really think about it."_

_Jim studied his daughter closely and then said, "I'll look through the house if my granddaughter wants to take me on a tour."_

_Beckett was startled and said, "You don't need to-"_

_"I want to, I just am not ready to start celebrating again," Jim said. "It'll remind me too much of your mother even if you and Castle are decorating far different than your mom and I did. And I would like to spend time with my granddaughter."_

_Smiling a little at that last bit, Beckett said softly, "I'll tell her to take you around after dinner-"_

_"When I'm having my coffee," Jim said. "Are the lights up?"_

_"All over, Castle went crazy with them, but luckily the end result isn't too… bad… What's this?" she asked her dad as he was handing her a wrapped package._

_"Not for Christmas, it needed to be wrapped because I didn't want it to get damaged," Jim told her. He watched her closely as she tore off the paper and said, "I thought you'd want it for the baby's room."_

_Tears in her eyes as she just managed to keep them from falling, Beckett touched the frame of the picture; which was of her on the day she'd gone home from the hospital with her parents. "Dad, it's perfect," she said simply._

_"I have a copy of it for you," Jim said, handing it to her after finding it in his bag._

_"Thank you," Beckett said. "So that's it right?"_

_"It might be," Jim replied. "Let me give something for Christmas to my grandchildren Katie, so if they ever ask, you can tell them I did."_

_Beckett shook her head; though she was smiling; and she went to her dad, hugging him tightly before saying, "You'll be telling them, and I'm sure they'll be interested in knowing what you got them."_

_"It won't anything big, but it'll be something that I hope they'll keep with them," Jim said, referring to the baby then._

_"We'll try our best to make sure that happens," Beckett told him. "Come downstairs when you're ready, Julia will want to start your tour down there." She left the room then, going down to the kitchen before pausing at the living room, looking at the picture in her hands. She heard her daughter's laugh then, and looked up, walking the rest of the way to her and Castle, tucking the frame under her arm._

* * *

"Do you see her yet?" Castle was asking his wife as they waited outside the gate to the school.

"No, she knows better than to run from her classroom," Beckett said, looking at him.

"Doesn't mean she wouldn't," Castle said. "Since we told her we weren't sure if we were both going to pick her up."

Smiling at that, Beckett turned back and saw their daughter, calling out to Julia before the little girl rushed over to them. "Hey sweetie," she said as she gathered her in her arms.

"Hi Mommy!" Julia cried happily. "I'm surprised you both came."

"Hey Mari, your mom wants us to take you home," Castle said when he saw the little girl coming over to them. "Did Julia tell you?"

"Yeah, and my teacher said too," Mari Foster said, smiling a little shyly at them.

"Okay, then we should get you home," Beckett said, squeezing her shoulder. "It's pretty cold."

"I can't wait to go home and have hot chocolate," Julia said, taking Mari's hand as they went to the sidewalk.

"Me too, and I can't wait to play with my mommy," Mari replied with a smile.

"Me too, and my daddy," Julia said, nodding.

Watching the two walking ahead of them, Castle felt something hitting his cheeks and he looked up at the sky, seeing that it was snow. "Looks like we're definitely going to have a white Christmas," he commented.

"Oh good, then we can skate," Julia said. "Right?"

"It depends on the pond," Beckett said. She let go of Castle's hand to wrap her arm around his, holding onto it as they watched the two girls in front of them chattering eagerly the rest of the walk about what they liked to play best in the snow. She shook her head before she and her husband shared a look and smiled as he leaned over to kiss her temple.

Holding his wife close to him, Castle felt her warmth even through her layers, as they tried to hurry back to the Foster's as the snow began to fall a little more thickly with every block they went, watching the two girls ahead to make sure they were alright before going down the path to Mari's front door where Rebecca was already waiting, the door open as she took her daughter inside. After they'd waved to the woman, he ushered Beckett and their daughter to their house, making it inside before the wind picked up and they headed straight to the kitchen together after getting their layers off.

"Should we tell her now?" Beckett asked her husband as he was getting everything ready for hot chocolate.

"I think so," Castle said, going over to her quickly.

"Okay, sweetie," Beckett said as Julia looked up at them interestedly. "Earlier today when your daddy and I were writing, the baby kicked for the first time."

With a gasp, Julia jumped a little and put her hand on her mother's stomach asking in a slightly high pitched voice, "It did?"

"Yes," Beckett said with a laugh. "And it's not really moving now so I don't think it'll kick."

"Aw, I want to feel it," Julia said with a sigh.

"When it does again I'll tell you," Beckett said as she hugged the little girl tightly.

"Did you get to feel it Daddy?" Julia asked Castle.

"I did," he replied, leaning down to share a kiss with her before he went back to the stove. "But don't worry, now the baby can move, it'll do it more and more."

"Hopefully not at night," Beckett commented wryly. She watched as Castle made the hot chocolate but then shook herself from that, turning to Julia asking, "Any homework sweetie?"

"Just to read a book with you and to come back to show and to talk about it," Julia said. "She said it could be just pictures."

"I think I know which book it is already," Castle commented, shaking his head.

"That's too big of a book to take to school," Beckett told their daughter, since she knew which one as well, the Beatles book she'd gotten for Christmas the year before. "Plus it's a little too long, why don't you pick one of the books you got at the library?"

"Kay, but later, now can I tell you about school?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Go ahead," Castle said, pouring the hot chocolate into mugs. "Love?"

"Just get the plate we have ready," Beckett replied, taking Julia to the family room as she took two of the mugs. "I hope you had a pretty good day."

"I did," the little girl assured her mother. "And recess and lunch were lots of fun."

"Did you play outside?" Castle asked, joining them then.

"Not yet Daddy, I'll say when it was time," Julia protested. She giggled when he held up his hands and then started to tell them about her day in school and what she'd learned, leaning against her mother's knees as they warmed up with the hot chocolate and had their snack. She was pleased that she kept their attention the whole time, and as she talked about getting to play with a hula hoop at lunch, she couldn't keep the happiness out of her voice before her parents were kissing her cheek as she hugged them tightly around the neck, telling them she loved them before going back to the story about her class.

* * *

"Hey, I'm surprised you didn't change out of your uniform sooner," Castle said as Julia ran up to him in the kitchen where he was making dinner later on that night.

"I think it's warmer for her," Beckett said, following their daughter. "Can you pick her up?"

"I'm not being too overprotective," Castle said, drying his hands and picking up Julia.

"She wants you to do that," Beckett said wryly, taking over stirring what was in the wok.

"Yeah, you said Mommy shouldn't," Julia told him seriously as he set her on the chair at the island.

"You know she does listen," Beckett said, smiling when she saw the sheepish expression on her husband's face as she looked to him. "Okay, set sweetie?"

"I'm gonna color," Julia said. She took her mother's phone that she handed to her, and opened the folder in her music player that was hers. She placed it on shuffle and smiled widely as the first song began, humming it as she got a green colored pencil from her box.

"We left the screen on," Beckett said as Castle took over at the wok again.

"Always forget that," he said as he added a little more water to the noodles. "She didn't see did she?"

"No, she ran straight to you," Beckett commented with a smile. "So tonight, since we obviously can't go out for a walk, what do you want to do?" she directed to Julia.

Pursing her lips in thought for a moment, the little girl then said, "Can I practice?"

"You want to dance to the song you got from Miss Grey?" Castle asked.

"Yes please," Julia said quickly.

"I don't know if it's a great idea to go straight from eating to dancing a Jive sweetheart," Castle then said, looking at his wife. "Why don't we do something else, play a game maybe before you do that?"

"Kay," Julia said. "Can I pick it out now?"

"Yes, but then you need to come back to set the table okay?" Beckett asked as she finished the honey chicken that Castle had begun. When Julia was hurrying to the office where her games were stored she said, "Good thing I saw the screen before."

"I don't know, the TV is pretty high up, and the text is small," Castle commented as he dished out the chow mein. "Plus there's nothing too gory."

"I just don't need her asking what our murder board is for," Beckett said, since they had installed a TV in their office so they could have the program they'd used during the four seasons murders at her apartment for their books.

"I'm surprised you're telling her about past cases though," Castle couldn't help comment as he stepped up behind her and placed his hand on her stomach.

"She just wants to know when her daddy was silly as she put it," Beckett said, smiling as he was sliding his hand around, pausing and then moving it again. "Sorry, it's moving, but not kicking."

"Mommy, Daddy," Julia said, coming up to them then. When they turned to them she held up a box and when her mother nodded she went to put it in the family room. She couldn't help pause, looking at the Christmas tree there, reaching over to brush her fingers against the needles before her father was calling her.

"Wash up," Castle told her, helping her step up onto the stool they had for her to be able to use the sink. "And I set out the plates for you, just put down the forks and napkins."

"How come you did that?" Julia said after thanking him.

"I wouldn't let him get this into the bowl," Beckett said simply as she was taking the grey bowl with the chicken in it to the table. She washed her hands before she sat down with her husband and their daughter, watching Julia twirl her fork in the noodles. "Sweetie?" she said, getting her attention. "Remember tomorrow-" she started to say before the sound of birds chirping came from her phone.

"Lanie? One of the boys?" Castle asked as he and Julia watched her read her text.

"No, the furniture," Beckett replied, looking up at them. "It's going to be coming Monday."

"Let's hope it does," Castle said, glancing at the little girl who quickly looked down at her plate.

"Speaking of Lanie and the boys," Beckett said to Julia. "Remember they're coming tomorrow."

"I remember, what about my presents for them?" the little girl asked.

"We'll wrap them in the morning," Beckett said quickly. "I'm wondering about the Fosters though."

"What about them?" Castle asked.

"Well, I think I'd like to ask them to lunch on the twenty-third to exchange gifts with them before Christmas instead of after," Beckett said. "But your mom and Alexis will be here."

"They might go out if we tell them about that," Castle said. "Or I can suggest to David and Rebecca what they might buy for them. And I can tell Mother and Alexis what to get the three."

"Mommy?" Julia asked when her mother had hesitantly nodded to that. When both her mother and Castle turned to her she asked, "How come Mari doesn't have a sister or brother too?"

"Not everyone does," Beckett said with a smile as she took Julia's fork to cut a piece of chicken for her on her plate. "You know your daddy and I don't have siblings."

"I know," Julia said, frowning a little. "But why?"

"It's the parents' decision," Castle said simply. "Sometimes it's easier for them to have just one kid, sometimes they'd like to have more."

"So you wanted more?" Julia asked.

"We did," Castle and Beckett said at the same time.

Shaking her head at her husband as he was slightly smirking then, Beckett turned back to Julia and said, "If Mari's parents want to have a baby, then I'm sure they will try one day. But let them decide okay?"

"I won't say, but Mari wants a sister too," Julia admitted.

"I'm not surprised," Castle said. "But sweetheart, you're okay with the possibility of having a brother right?"

"Uh-huh," Julia quickly replied, nodding. "I just hope it's a sister though."

"We'll see in April," Beckett said. "Keep eating," she urged her.

The three then began to talk about their Christmas plans that year, and when they would visit the lights again as Julia had been begging them to go again. After deciding to switch the lunch with the Fosters to dinner so they could go with them to see the lights, Julia helped her parents clear the table and she put away the plates and forks in the dishwasher for Castle as her mother leaned against the island, talking with him.

"What is it?" Castle asked when he'd finished and had turned to see his wife was leaning against the counter, rubbing the same area of her abdomen.

"Come here," Beckett said to Julia with a smile. When the little girl was close she took her hand, resting it near where she'd placed Castle's hand earlier. A few seconds later there was a tap against her, and she smiled as Julia gasped in shock, her eyes almost bugging out of her sockets.

"Oh! Oh Mommy, that was my brother or sister," Julia whispered. She felt another tap a little further to the side of her palm and she then asked, "What's it doing?"

"Moving, but it's a little bigger; remember we showed you the picture of it," Beckett reminded her.

Frowning a little, Julia said, "How does the baby come out?"

"Uh…" Castle said when Beckett turned to him. He tried to remember if he'd ever had to tell Alexis that when she was little when their daughter spoke first.

"Nancy's kitty had the babies coming out of her," Julia told them. "When it was at the class, are babies born like that?"

"Kind of," Beckett said, slightly in relief as she recalled the show and tell that had ended up in the student's cat giving birth in front of the class. "But you know I'm only having one baby and it's a human."

"I know," Julia said, moving her hand so her dad could feel the baby. "Does… does it hurt?" she then whispered.

"A little," Castle said, shaking his head slightly as his wife looked at him. "But I'll be with your mommy, and she'll hopefully have some medicine to help out with the baby."

"I hope so too," Julia said, looking at her mother in concern.

"I'll be okay," Beckett assured her, hugging her tightly to her. "Like he said, your daddy will be there, and the doctor and nurses too, so I won't be alone."

"Kay," Julia said, pressing her cheek to the curve of her mother's stomach.

"Why don't we go play the game you picked out now? That way you can practice your Jive before it gets too late," Beckett suggested. "We'll get some drinks okay?"

"I'll get the game ready," Julia said before she hurried down to the family room.

"Rick," Beckett said slightly warningly as she looked at him as he was getting a kettle full of water.

"It's hard not to worry about that," Castle said quickly in response to her tone. "And you are kind of… petite love."

"I am, but you heard Dr. Hargrove when I talked to her about that," Beckett reminded him. "I'm not the only small framed woman to carry a child; and women smaller than me have carried to term and have given birth. But I was a little worried about that when I was younger and the conversation with girlfriends went to the thought of having kids. So I was relieved to hear from her that I probably won't have a hard time going through labor considering my hips… according to her. I don't know what she meant exactly there though, we'll see when the time comes," she said, looking down at herself and shaking her head as she smiled slightly.

"Can I ask one thing?" Castle said then.

"Sure," Beckett replied.

"Try not to crush my hand," Castle said simply.

Laughing softly, Beckett shook her head telling him, "That I can't promise, how about I promise not to scream at you to go to hell?"

"That would be nice," Castle said, nodding in agreement.

"Great it's easy to keep because I asked my friends about that, and only one of them told their husband something like that when they gave birth," Beckett said simply. "I'll go see how Julia's doing."

"Kate?" Castle said before she could take a step away from him.

Turning, Beckett was a little startled to see his expression and asked, "What?"

Going over to her though the kettle was close to start whistling, Castle cupped her cheeks in his hands and leaned down, brushing his lips against hers. He then went to her ear and whispered, " _I need you_."

The shiver in her was quick but still made her shake a little in response, and Beckett hurriedly translated in her mind to tell him, " _So do I_." Looking into her husband's eyes, she wasn't too shocked to feel her heartbeat was racing before he descended, and was kissing her a little harder as she held onto him tightly.

Walking down the hall, Julia slowed down when she saw her parents embracing and kissing, and she was going to turn, but finally couldn't take it anymore, starting to open her mouth to speak. But just as she was about to, the kettle on the stove began to whistle, making her and then Castle and Beckett jump at the abruptness and the high pitched noise.

"Something wrong?" Beckett asked turning to see Julia standing there.

"I wanted to see if you were gonna come and play," the little girl told her mother as she walked up to her. "I didn't know you and Daddy were kissing."

"Well we stopped, so let's set everything up," Beckett said, taking her hand and going down the hall.

When they stepped into the family room, Julia giggled at the look on her mother's face as her game she'd picked was set up. "It was easy 'cause all I had to do," she told her as Beckett went to sit on the couch. "Was put the sticks in the middle and then the marbles on top when I finished."

"You did a great job," Beckett assured her, bringing her into her arms. She kissed her cheek and kept her in her embrace before Julia was turning to face her. "What's wrong?" she asked, brushing some of Julia's hair off her cheek.

"No, what about telling Grandpapa, Gram and Alexis about the baby?" she asked.

"Hey Kate, what about calling our parents and Alexis, tell them the baby's kicking now," Castle said as he came into the room as Julia finished speaking. "What?" he asked when he saw them looking at him.

"I said that Daddy," Julia giggled.

"Really, you and I must have a connection too," Castle said as Beckett was getting her phone. "Who's first?"

"My dad," Beckett said. "Hey Dad," she said as he'd picked up after the first ring. "I'm fine, hold on," she told him before putting the phone to speaker. "We're all fine actually."

"Hi Grandpapa!" Julia called.

"Hey honey, how was school?" Jim asked her.

"Good but Mommy and Daddy have news," Julia said seriously.

"It's good news," Castle assured him quickly in case he might think it was something serious.

"It is Dad, I felt the baby kick for the first time today," Beckett told him.

"Katie, that is great news," Jim said, the smile on his face evident in his tone. "So you're doing fine still?"

"Yes," Beckett said reassuringly. "We just wanted you to know."

"Are you gonna come soon again Grandpapa, so you can feel the baby kicking? I did," Julia said eagerly.

"The first weekend in January, I promise I'll still come see you," Jim said. "And the baby," he quickly added as he knew his granddaughter would insist on that. "Have you told Martha and Alexis?" he directed to his daughter.

"We're going to call them right now. I'll talk to you later Dad," Beckett said.

"Thank you Katie, I love you. And you too Julia," Jim said. "Goodnight Castle."

"Night Jim," Castle replied before his father in law hung up. "What about Lanie and the boys? Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, though we should get her ear plugs," Beckett said jokingly as she nodded down to their daughter.

"Why?" Julia asked.

"No reason," Castle said quickly before his mother picked up the phone.

"Richard, is everything alright?" Martha said in a rush before her son could even say hello. "Kate and the-"

"They're fine," Castle quickly interrupted as he'd guessed she wouldn't stop unless he did that. "We're fine Mother," he continued. "I called because we wanted to let you know that the baby kicked for the first time earlier."

"It did?" Martha said. "Am I on speaker?"

"You are Martha," Beckett told her mother in law.

"Kate, that's wonderful news," Castle's mother said. "It's a very odd feeling isn't it?"

"It is," Beckett said with a slight laugh. "You were right about that, but it's nice to let Rick and Julia feel the baby moving in some way too."

"Very true, now Julia, what do you think darling, about your sibling?" Martha said.

Smiling at that, the little girl replied, "It was funny to feel, but I can't wait for it to be born."

"It still needs to grow, but now you know the baby is definitely here," Martha said, since she'd talked to her granddaughter about that as well. "Have you told Alexis?" she asked.

"We'll tell her right now," Castle said.

"Then I'll leave you to call," Martha said. "And I'm eagerly looking forward to our Christmas celebration in only a week."

"So am I!" Julia exclaimed. She smiled at her parents as they laughed, and she said goodbye to her grandmother before she bounced up and down as Castle called her sister.

"Dad, hey, everything okay?" Alexis said on the other end.

"Calmest reaction to our calls," Castle said jokingly to his wife. "Yeah kiddo, we just wanted to call you, to give you some news."

"The baby kicked!" Julia exclaimed before he could say it. She giggled a little at his surprise and said, "I felt it, right under my hand."

"That's great," Alexis said, amusement in her voice. "So you're alright Kate?"

"I'm fine, but your dad and sister are very happy since they both got to feel it," Beckett told her.

"I'll bet," Alexis said with a smile.

"Are you getting ready to go out?" Castle asked, hearing the rustle of fabric.

"Yeah, Diana and I are heading out for a party, last one before Christmas," Alexis said. "It's an ugly Christmas sweater party; remember the picture I sent you guys?"

"Ooh, I hope you win the prize you said they have," Julia told her sister eagerly.

"Me too," Alexis said. "I'll tell you how it goes tomorrow okay?"

"Kay," Julia said happily. "Love you 'lexis," she told her sister.

"I love you too Jules, see you next week," Alexis promised.

After they'd said goodnight to the young woman and Castle had hung up the phone, Beckett said, "Should we play the game still? I think she could dance now," not surprised when she felt Julia tugging on her sleeve.

"Ask me Mommy," the girl protested.

"Okay, what do you want to do now?" Beckett with a smile before she leaned over and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Play the game, and then I'll dance," Julia said seriously.

"Then we should get started," Castle said, checking his watch quickly to make sure they still had time.

Sticking her tongue out in concentration as she had already decided which stick to try and take out first, Julia squealed softly as none of the marbles fell, and she watched her mother go next. As they played the game; which Beckett won; she watched as her father would make some excuse to lean against her mother. She smiled a little at that, in a way relieved since she wanted her parents to stay in love, especially since they were going to have a baby. "Okay," she said as she took out a stick and nearly all the marbles fell. "Now I can practice?"

"Yes, but if you're going to stay here you need to be careful sweetie," Beckett told her daughter.

"Watch out for the tree," Castle said, nodding to it.

"I will," Julia said simply and with a smile. She took off her slippers and waited for him to start playing the music she was learning to dance the Jive to in her class.

Watching as Julia started to make some quick flicks and pretended to dance with a partner, Castle said to his wife in a low voice, "I'm surprised she didn't ask one of us to dance with her."

"She's caught your worry about the baby in my case," Beckett said simply. "And she knows about your knee."

"Mommy's right," Julia said, breathing heavily as she walked over to them. She smiled when Castle looked at her in surprise and said, "I can't dance right without my shoes. And without someone else too when the dance is a lot with a partner."

"Okay, so now what, bed?" Castle asked teasingly.

"No," Julia said, putting her slippers back on at her mother's direction. "I wanna hear another story," she then said, getting onto Beckett's lap.

"About him?" she asked with a smile. When Julia nodded a few times she couldn't help smirking a little at her husband and said, "How about I tell you a short story, it's about when I went to Los Angeles to investigate a case."

"That's in California right?" Julia asked.

"Southern California, San Francisco's in the north," Castle said. "And how exactly am I going to be painted in this story love?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Beckett said. "I had to sneak out to LA because I didn't really have permission to go, but it needed to be done and quickly. I was on the plane and way in the back when I was told I could go to first class. And once I got to my seat…" she trailed off, nodding to Castle.

"Daddy was there?" Julia asked, a wide smile on her face.

"With a glass of champagne ready to go for your mommy," Castle said with a grin. "Of course, she didn't really want me to come along, but…"

"Yeah, I don't think you would've stopped following me if I'd just gone back to my first seat," Beckett said, shaking her head though there was a smile on her face.

"Were you in love with Daddy then?" Julia asked her mother interestedly.

"Sort of," Beckett said honestly. "Sweetie," she said, laughing as the little girl gave her a mock pout. "We didn't just automatically fall in love the second we met, I told you that."

"She's right, but by then I knew I was in love with your mother," Castle said. "So it was a nice little trip though we were working. That dinner," he directed the last to his wife.

"True," Beckett said smiling briefly at the memory though she hadn't given in to the moment between them in time. "But if you want to know about the case, we managed to solve it, so everything worked out."

"What about the pool?" Castle said under his breath.

"You went swimming?" Julia asked interestedly.

"Why don't you explain that since you seem to want to tell her about that," Beckett said, giving him a look.

"Sure," Castle said quickly. He couldn't help pausing and smiling at the exasperated sound his wife made realizing he'd planned on that already, and then turned his attention to their daughter. "Your mom had to talk to a man, but she also had to pretend she wasn't with the police. So she did that at the pool."

"Ooh, you went swimming first so he could see you 'cause you're a good swimmer Mommy," Julia said in a tone of understanding.

"Something like that," Beckett said, a little startled at her words.

"That helped you with your work?" Julia asked. When her mother nodded she smiled and said, "Good, I'm happy it did. But did you see her too Daddy?"

"I was there, so I did," Castle said with a slight smile, not surprised that the little girl was concerned that he hadn't.

"And with that, that's the end of the story, so it's time to get you to bed sweetie," Beckett told Julia. She smiled as Castle picked their daughter up, swinging her legs out to her cry of delight before holding her against his hip as she stood.

Inside Julia's bathroom, Castle helped her into the tub after getting her undressed as it was his turn that night. "So," he told Julia.

"Yeah?" the little girl asked, looking up at him quizzically.

"Tomorrow morning I'm going to take you and your mom out for breakfast," Castle told her. "Weather permitting of course," he said, looking at his wife who was sitting behind them.

"Thank you for that," Beckett replied. "Anything special about this breakfast or you just wanted to tell us?"

"I'm telling you so you both pick someplace," Castle told her. "Wherever you want to go."

"Crêpes!" Julia cried out immediately before her father made her tilt her hair back so he could rinse off the conditioner.

"Love?" Castle asked his wife.

"That's fine," Beckett said with a smile. She couldn't help but laugh softly as they both looked at her as her hand was on her abdomen and she told them, "It's moving, not kicking."

"Does that mean the baby wants it too?" Julia asked.

"Most likely," Castle told her, smiling a little. "Okay, have fun with your art tonight," he told his daughter as he had finished helping her wash her body.

"Not for too long," Beckett told her. "What do you plan to draw though?"

"I dunno," Julia said, slightly shrugging before she took a green bath crayon and started to make a large triangle on the wall. She put a scribble of yellow at the top, and brown at the bottom and then used different colors to make presents.

"Nice tree," Castle commented, watching with Beckett.

"Yeah, it doesn't look like the tree we have downstairs, but it's pretty too," Julia said. She then wrote letters next to the 'presents' and giggled saying, "What do I put for the baby?"

"You don't have to put anything," Beckett said, standing up to help her out. She wrapped Julia up in a towel as Castle was cleaning the tub and said, "Did you ever pick out your book for homework?"

"No, but I can pick it now," Julia said simply, helping her mother with putting on her pajamas. "When can we read?" she asked eagerly.

"It'll have to be Sunday after the others leave," Beckett said as Julia got onto her stepping stool to go to the sink. She helped her brush her teeth before Castle was picking their daughter up to her squeal.

"Kay, are you gonna help me Daddy?" Julia asked, kissing his cheek.

"I'll let you do that yourself sweetheart, since you're going to be talking about the book at school," Castle told her, setting her down at her desk. He looked over at Beckett seeing she was sitting on the edge of the bed before Julia was abruptly running past him to her. "Oh, not going to share with me I see," he teased her.

"Yes I was," Julia told him, giggling as she held up her book.

"I thought it might be this one," Beckett said, since the cover had a dog in a taxi on it. "It'll be interesting to read. But now, _to sleep_ sweetie," she told her.

" _Not yet_ Mommy," Julia said, pronouncing the words slowly.

"I'm not surprised she got that phrase so quickly," Castle said to his wife with a smile.

"Do I-" Julia started to say.

"No, your mom's right, _into your bed_ ," Castle said as he picked her up so she was standing on the mattress.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," Julia told him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "How many days now until Christmas?"

"Thirteen," Castle told her. "So we're getting closer to it."

"I can't wait!" Julia said eagerly. She smiled when Castle hugged her tightly and she did so as well saying, "Night Daddy, I love you."

"Night Julia, I love you too," Castle told her. He shared a kiss with her before kissing her forehead and letting his wife step up to her.

"Alright, tomorrow we have a pretty busy day," Beckett told her. "So get some sleep okay?"

"I will Mommy," Julia told her seriously. She then smiled and said, "I don't want to be tired when we give them presents."

"I expected that," Beckett said with a smile before she hugged her daughter tightly.

"Oh, wait!" Julia said quickly before reaching down and rubbing her mother's stomach. "Goodnight, you have to sleep too, and I love you too little brother or little sister."

Castle couldn't help but smile at that still, as Julia had started saying that more and more at night after Beckett had entered her fifth month. But he was glad for the confirmation again that Julia already loved her sibling.

"Thank you Julia," Beckett said with a smile. She shared a kiss with the little girl, and then told her, "I love you sweetie, night."

"Love you too Mommy, lots," Julia said before they shared another hug before she got under the covers quickly. She wriggled her toes as Castle was starting to pull the covers up from the bottom of the bed, giggling softly as he tickled the bottom of her feet before covering her. She smiled when her mother tucked her in then and held her Stitch doll closer. She murmured a goodnight to her parents and then watched them walk to the door before she sighed as the lights went off and closed her eyes, tired all of a sudden from school and dancing that day.

Once they were sure she was asleep, Castle closed the door and when he and Beckett got to the stairs he murmured to her before she nodded, heading to their room as he went down the stairs once they'd kissed gently.

* * *

"So you think we'll have everything ready?" Beckett was asking her husband.

"I think so, all we're waiting on is that last gift of Julia's," Castle said. "And it'll be here next week."

"True," Beckett commented a little absently. She took the cup he handed her and sipped the egg nog inside before she sat up a little more. She looked at her husband when he started to move moved he leaned in close to her. "Yes?" she asked with a smile as his face was close, propped up on his hand.

"Nothing," Castle told her, fingering the top button of her blouse.

"You liar, I can see it in your face," Beckett teased him. "But since I told you I wanted you, earlier, I'm pretty much in the same place you are," she said.

"Right this second though?" Castle asked her. When she hesitated a little he nodded and said, "That's why I suggested this. But maybe we could work ourselves up to it."

"Ourselves?" Beckett asked.

"That's what I said," Castle told her. He smiled when she tried to look down at him, but the way his body was positioned laying next to her she wasn't really able to see. "Sit up?" he asked as a suggestion.

Beckett took a sip of the egg nog again, and then handed it to him before he finished off the rest as she sat up and got on her knees. Once the cup was on his nightstand she leaned over, kissing him deeply on the lips before she felt his arms sliding around so his hands clasped on the small of her back. Scooting over a little closer to him, she was suddenly frustrated by their position, and she broke away.

"What-"

"Like this…"

When they were finally kissing again, Beckett was laying back, holding her husband tightly to her as they were fighting a little playfully together in her mouth. She managed to push him back into his, and felt him pressing down against her in response to the rush in the movement, and then felt him tense. Pulling away from him she said quickly, "You're fine."

"Oh I know, just let me…" Castle started to say before he unbuttoned her blouse. He was able to go quickly, and easily which surprised him, but guessed it was because the buttons weren't microscopic. Finally he had it spread apart, and he kissed at her neck before dragging his lips over her skin as he made his way down her chest before he went to her abdomen. He kissed over it gently as he started to run his right hand along the side; where he'd felt the baby kicking before. Looking up at his wife he raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to speak.

"Sorry," Beckett said with a smile. "But would you really want it acting up right now?"

"You make a good point," Castle admitted before he pressed a kiss to the hollow of her throat. He then moved back to her neck, slowly brushing his lips against her skin before she pulled him away. He was a little surprised when she sat up, but as she started to try and shrug the blouse still on her shoulders off, he helped her, pulling it down before he tossed it aside and reached behind her.

Moving off the bed at her husband's direction, Beckett was quick to remove her jeans and allowed Castle to take off her panties as he was sitting on the bed in front of her. As he leaned down and kissed her stomach again, she stroked his hair a few times before she made him stand up. "You don't want to?" she asked in slight surprise as he didn't move for a moment.

"No, sorry, I do," Castle told her, standing up quickly. He watched her pull off his shirt, the plaid fabric joining her blouse in an interesting mix of colors that took his attention before his wife got it back to her when she tugged on the bottom of his black shirt. "So," he started to say before he had to pause as she ran her hands down his bare chest. He grunted a little at the sensation as it set off an immediate reaction within him, not ashamed to admit it was helping his arousal along. He took Beckett's hands, kissing at the fingertips and then palms before telling her, "There yet?"

"Very rude to ask a woman that love," Beckett told him, smirking slightly.

"Then how am I supposed to know?" Castle told her in a matter of fact tone of voice. He wasn't too surprised when she didn't answer him, and instead got to work on his jeans before he helped her.

Beckett was going to lie back on the bed once he was naked, but he made her stop before he sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her onto his lap. "Now you know," she said simply as she knew he was feeling how aroused she was with the position. "Like this?" she asked, brushing her lips over his cheek gently.

"Not quite," Castle told her simply before he let her get on the bed and then followed her quickly. He sat up in the middle of it, watching as she straddled him, his hands brushing over her sides in very smooth motions; as he knew she liked.

"God, you're…" Beckett began to say before trailing off. She moved before she was above him, and with them both working towards it she was soon sliding down his erection, closing her eyes as tightly as she could at the feeling of it filling her deeply. She knew her husband was likely wondering what she wanted to do, so she carefully rolled her hips around once, not surprised when he groaned deeply, clutching at her back. That done, she began to rock slowly against him, somewhere that could go between slow and rough easily; depending on what she wanted. She felt a slight thrill at the realization of her power over him at that moment, as he would be depending on her to fulfill his pleasure. But since he was doing the same for her, she knew it was even, as she preferred it. Her attention was taken away from that rapid thought that shot through her mind when Castle was carefully running his hands over her breasts. She shivered visibly then as the shock from that spread through her body and she reached up to grab his wrists to take them off of her. Biting her lower lip as he looked up at her questioningly, she placed her hands on the back of his head, and led him to her right breast, loving the anticipation that had quickly appeared on his face.

Castle was a little hard pressed not to go crazy as by then he was moving within her, groaning heavily in pleasure as he suckled at her very carefully. He was relieved to feel how hard she was gripping the back of his head, and how tense she was in front of him, since it meant she was greatly enjoying how he was doing that. He was as well as he could feel his member literally throbbing in her. He finally needed to breathe, and after going over both her breasts, he pulled back to get her down to his lips for a kiss. It ended up being very passionate as they were taking each other's lips frantically. He felt her nails raking down his scalp and he shook every pass she made, the feeling standing out to him as it was different from what was going on in the rest of his body. He was pretty sure that internally he was on fire, so hot that if she could feel it, he knew his wife would be reassured by what she did to him. He pulled away suddenly, while they were still heavily involved in that kiss and whispered to her, "I need you Kate," his lips against her neck. "Need you just like this… I'm already thinking of having you again."

"You would have me if you took me," Beckett breathed, having been able to hear him though her heart was pounding loudly in her chest. When he didn't reply to that she pulled him away and looked into his eyes intensely telling him, "Lay me down Rick, _take me_."

Nearly gulping, Castle managed a nod before they were stopping, and he laid her on her back before he was within her yet again, moving at the same pace that she'd started. But something wasn't exactly working with that, and he began to move slightly faster, breathing out heavily as he stared into his wife's eyes though she was arching her head back every time he slid inside of her. He suddenly slowed down, wanting her to look at him, and he was pleased when she did so, her hand cupping his cheek in response. He turned his head, brushing his lips over her thumb as it was brushing against his lower lip. "We need to… to talk in Irish more," he suddenly couldn't help telling her.

Beckett was a little surprised at that, but couldn't reply as Castle was abruptly moving a little faster again, and she had to reach his rhythm as she'd been constantly trying to do. But finally when she felt they were even she asked, "Why?"

"You don't know how you sound do you?" Castle queried, looking into her eyes.

"Do you… know how you sound?" Beckett asked instead of answering. His sudden crushing of her lips with his own wasn't that big of a surprise, it was actually something she appreciated as the intensity of him thrusting against her begged for a distraction. She was trying to hold onto her self control and was relieved that she could actually do it after a time. When he pulled away from her she murmured to him, " _Then tell me love_ ," speaking entirely in Irish though she wasn't sure how she was able to.

Though she hadn't said what she wanted him to say, Castle was able to gather what it was and he moved down, whispering in her ear, " _I adore you love, I need you, I want you_ … need you…" His trailing off and going back to English at the end had nothing to do with his inability to figure out how to say translate it, it was the sensation of her sex around him, working around him, working with him as he slowed down again. They were both breathing roughly as he pressed his forehead against hers, groaning deeply as her right leg; around his waist before; suddenly slid up his side as far as it could go. When she stopped and he was back inside of her again he was deep, and he was groaning her name before he suddenly stopped completely.

"Castle! Don't…" Beckett said in frustration. But when he began to move again her eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head in her joy at that. A few seconds later, he was halting his movements, and she looked at him in a little surprise. As he started up again, she knew what he wanted, and she put her arms above her head as she begged him, "Don't stop, please, I want to feel you just like this until you make me come! Please Rick, love, please," not finding it hard to do that as she was suddenly desperate for some kind of release as things were building up to more than she could handle.

Breathing roughly as he worked his speed until he was satisfied with the pace he had, Castle moved to her lips, kissing her deeply and sensuously at the same time as her fingers slid through his hair before holding onto the back of his head by holding him in place. He could feel her desperation in the way she held him, and could sympathize completely, because he was finding himself in the same situation. He had to wonder in the back of his mind if that was another thing that made them so good together. They could pleasure each other, but in the end, their need became the same even if it felt different each time they made love. Before he could really think more about that though, he suddenly felt his wife grasping onto him as hard as she could, her hands at some point going to his back, her nails digging into his skin.

Her climax was intense though she and her husband hadn't fucked one another, but Beckett wasn't really planning on trying to figure out why. Everything in her was concentrated on where they were coupled together, where waves of ecstasy seemed to overlap each other, making her doubtful she could handle it; she always was. The sudden jerk of Castle's body against her was rough and had immediately caught her attention as she was quick to try and focus part of her attention on him. It was difficult, but she could sense the pleasure in his peak in the way he moved within her, never mind her name that was on his lips repeatedly as she whispered his into his ear a few times. Finally she slowed down, her body trying to feel the sensation of her orgasm in the way she throbbed still around him. But her husband was soon thrusting twice hard in rapid succession before he came to a stop, panting against her shoulder as she started to run her hand over the back of his head, feeling how moist his hair had gotten with his exertions.

"Sure we couldn't… couldn't write the eventual love scenes together?" Castle breathed when he felt more able to talk.

"We probably will," Beckett said, smiling. "But I'm going to watch you and I don't slip into Moor and Green on the pages." She laughed softly as he grunted against her skin saying, "That's going to be impossible isn't it?"

"Pretty much," Castle said, pulling his head away from her since he'd kept his body from lying directly on top of her and the baby. "But yeah, I just realized I better be careful, don't need men flocking to you at the book signings we'll need to do, slipping you their number."

"You really think we'll have signings?" Beckett asked as she ran her fingertips over his cheek, emphasizing the plural.

"I do," Castle said. "And since some of those signings can be pretty monotonous," he told her. "It'll be nice to have someone there with me."

"Hmm," Beckett said with a smile. "You mean like I was earlier this month?"

"Exactly," Castle told her seriously. When she laughed again he leaned down, kissing her gently before he pulled back and then got off of her. She started to turn onto her side when he stopped her, going down to her stomach. "Anything?" he asked, rubbing the curve the baby was making there.

Beckett was quiet for a moment, waiting to see, and she laughed when there was an abrupt kick against the side, near Castle's hand. She watched her husband as he raced to place it over there, smiling as he pressed his ear to it. "What-" she started to say.

"Wait," Castle told her. "Sorry if we woke you up just now."

"I don't think it works like that Castle," Beckett said, shaking her head though she was smiling still. "And I was lying down during most of that."

"Eventually you'll need to be above me," Castle told her, kissing around her abdomen.

"I know, and I can imagine you're thinking of how that'll look already," Beckett told him. "Pervert."

"Hey, I think I can fantasize about my wife right?" Castle asked jokingly. He moved to her and kissed her, gently, slowly before he pulled back, nearly going back to her as he missed the pressure of her lips. "You know I do right."

"I'm aware," Beckett said, caressing his face with her hands. "And you know I do the same."

"Really? What do you think about concerning me love?" Castle asked her interestedly.

"Laying a few lashes across your ass with a riding crop," Beckett teased him. She had said that mostly to get a reaction out of him, which she did, his eyes going wide as he looked at her. "I'm kidding," she told him.

"Filthy, filthy mouth love," Castle told her, smiling at that.

"You too," Beckett replied. She touched his mouth and was pleased when he was quick to come to her lips at that and they began to kiss. She was almost tempted to try and arouse him again, but the movement of the baby inside her made her pause. "Sorry, it's… it feels like it's almost swimming around," she told him as she pulled away from him.

"Like Homer did on _The Simpsons_ ," Castle said in amusement.

"Not that much," Beckett said with a smile. "But yeah, it's moving."

Going quickly down to her stomach, Castle was quick to rub his hand over her skin as he felt it trembling at his touch. "I'm hoping a massage will help calm it down," he told his wife.

"I don't know if it can feel that," Beckett said, running her hand over his hair. "It'll stop soon though, come up here so we can get some sleep."

Sighing Castle said, "Sorry, your mom's tired so we'd better let her get some sleep." He pressed a kiss above it before he murmured, "I love you." He then went to Beckett and kissed his wife deeply, but quickly before he pulled away from her murmuring, "I love you Kate."

"I love you too Rick," Beckett replied, rubbing the back of his neck. She kissed him then, that time softly, but lingered a little as she wanted to keep that feeling in her mind. When they'd parted, she turned onto her side and feeling Castle coming up behind her took his hand, placing it on her abdomen.

After kissing the back of her shoulder, Castle felt his wife relaxing, and though he was still feeling her body, the way she'd been as he'd made love to her, he couldn't help follow her in turn. Closing his eyes, he felt a gentle tap under his palm and he looked over at Beckett, seeing that she was asleep already. He murmured that he loved her, before he lay back and kept his hand where it was as he went to sleep soon after that, the last thing he was aware of was the warmth of his wife's skin below his hand and the knowledge that their child was there with them.


	24. We're Here Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some lyrics in the chapter; they're from the song Rupert's Song by Paul McCartney, an unreleased song of his.
> 
> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney, from his 2011 reissue of his album McCartney II.

"Julia?" the voice called down the hall.

Not answering, the little girl continued to look up through the branches of the tree and she smiled as she reached up, touching the needles closest to her. When two feet appeared next to her she lowered her head a little bit and giggled saying, "I wanted to see what the little animals see."

"Okay, but you should come out of there now sweetie," Beckett told her daughter with a smile. When she was standing up she told her, "We're going to open the presents right now."

"I know, I just wanted to see… can I take a picture?" Julia asked.

"You can," Castle said, coming into the room. "They're getting the tea and coffee," he told his wife as he sat next to her on the couch. "Their idea."

Nodding Beckett said, "You can, but you need to hurry and get your camera. But don't run."

"Then how do I hurry?" Julia asked, frowning at that.

"Walk quickly," Castle suggested. When she smiled and nodded before leaving he asked Beckett, "Okay?"

"I'm good," she replied, looking over at the tree. She smiled slightly and said, "I really thought she was taking a nap."

"As excited as she gets for presents?" Castle commented. "But somehow it doesn't surprise me she saw that shot."

"She has her grandfather's eye," Beckett commented as they heard Julia clambering down the stairs. "That one?" she asked in surprise as it was the camera she'd given her for her fifth birthday.

"My other camera needs batteries," Julia said.

"I'll charge it for tomorrow," Castle told her. "Since you'll need it at night. Are you sure you want to come along?"

"We've talked about this already love," Beckett said simply. "And yes, I am going. I'll need to after our dinner."

"I can't wait to see Mari," Julia said from under the tree. "I hope Santa gives her good presents tonight."

"Interesting shot," Alexis said, coming into the room then with a tray in her hands. "I'll be interested in seeing the picture once you develop it Jules."

"I'll show you," Julia said as she was careful to come out from below the tree. She smiled as Martha came in with two kettles and asked, "Can I have tea?"

"Your hot chocolate is right here sweetie," Beckett said, holding out the mug. "So are we ready?" she asked a few minutes later once they'd gotten their tea or coffee ready.

"I think so, sweetheart, try and find your gift," Castle told the little girl who'd been taking pictures of them.

With a wide smile at her family, Julia hurried to the presents, and read each tag before she saw her name on one wrapped in white paper. "It's from Gram," she told everyone as she walked over to them, going to sit on the couch with her parents to unwrap it.

"Now kiddo, if you don't like this, then I can make you something else," Martha told her granddaughter as she was taking the cover off the box, pushing aside the tissue paper.

"Oh!" Julia cried as she touched the dress inside. "This is a Jive dress?" When Martha nodded she squealed and put the dress on the coffee table and ran to her grandmother, hugging her tightly. "Thank you!" she cried, kissing her cheek. "But… I don't dance in costumes yet."

"That doesn't matter," Castle's mother told her. "If you dress like a dancer, you will feel like a dancer."

"Can I try it on now?" Julia asked.

"Why don't you wait until we open all the presents?" Castle suggested.

"Get the present for Alexis," Beckett urged her.

Julia hurried to the tree and got the gift she had for her sister before walking to her, saying shyly, "I hope you like this."

"I will," Alexis assured her sister, squeezing her hand before she took the gift bag and pulled out a wrapped square. "Looks like you want to make me work to open my gift."

"That was Daddy's idea," Julia giggled softly.

Squeezing her hand again, Alexis took off the wrapping paper, revealing a framed picture of her and her little sister at the wedding reception. "For my dorm room?" she asked.

"Wherever you want to put it," Julia replied, a wide smile on her face as she could tell how much Alexis liked it. When she hugged her, the little girl hugged her sister tightly saying, "I like that one 'cause that's when we were finally really sisters."

"You're right, it's a great picture," Alexis assured her. "Now get your mom's gift for her okay?"

Beckett; having been watching the two with Castle and Martha silently; took her present from Julia and told her, "I knew she'd like it sweetie."

"I'm glad you were right Mommy, open yours now," Julia told her seriously. Reading the tag and seeing that it was from her husband, Beckett said, "Not much surprise on this one."

"Yeah, I discussed with our daughter if I should wrap that in a box and then get ones successively larger, but she dissuaded me," Castle commented as they looked at Julia, who was holding her dress up against her.

"I told Daddy you would be mad if he did that," the little girl told him, putting the dress back on top of the box. "And I would be too; I wanna see my present too."

Beckett cupped Julia's chin as she smiled before they shared a kiss, then at her daughter's urging she went back to unwrapping her gift. Ripping off the paper directly above it, she couldn't help laughing softly as she uncovered the book. "Really?" she asked.

"It seemed the perfect choice. You do like it right?" Castle asked, watching his wife opening the front cover to _Pygmalion_.

"I do, you know I love Shaw," Beckett said absently, reading the first line. She then closed the book and reached up to cup his cheek, bringing him to her for a kiss.

"I don't understand Mommy," Julia said once the two had parted. "What's so special about the book?"

"It's a joke," Beckett said with a smile. "I teased your daddy once he was going to start treating me like I was a sculpture like in this book." When Julia still looked confused she said, "It's a long story sweetie, you can read this when you get older okay?"

"Kay, now time for your gift Daddy!" Julia cried, jumping up and down as she clapped her hands together.

"So who is this one from?" Castle asked as he had the little girl stand in between his arms as he started to unwrap his gift.

" _To Rick from Kate_ ," Julia read off the tag. "That's my mommy," she whispered to her father.

"I know sweetheart," Castle said, laughing before he kissed her temple. He opened the gift, not really surprised to find himself holding a book as well, but was when he saw the title. " _Life in The West of Ireland_ , I don't think I've heard of this one," he said to his wife as Julia ducked out from between his arms to let him lean over to kiss her.

"It's just drawings," Beckett said. "But Julia could look at this with you; the baby too."

"You're right," Castle said, flipping through the book a little and seeing the colored drawings. "What do you think?" he asked Julia who was still standing next to him.

"That's a good picture," Julia said, looking at the drawing of a red horse. "I can't look at it too?"

"I'll take a quick look through it, and then I'll see if the other pictures are good," Castle said, feeling a nudge to his side as Beckett elbowed him. "And by that I mean yes, because your mom's looked through it already. Sorry love," he told her.

Rolling her eyes, Beckett kissed him again when he leaned over to her, and then told Julia to get Martha's gift which the three of them had gotten her. "I thought you might like it as a kind of reminder of our honeymoon," she whispered to him.

"Oh believe me," Castle murmured, his arm wrapped around her waist. "I love it for that, and the fact that it's Yeats the artist." He brushed his lips against his wife's before his mother began to exclaim over their gift for her.

"This was a wonderful picture," Martha was saying. "Your father is a good photographer Kate," she said, looking at the picture of her with Julia and Alexis by the pool; taken while her son and Beckett had been in Ireland. "This will be going on my dresser, right in the middle," she said to Julia, pinching her chin to the little girl's giggle. "Now, you know what you need to do kiddo."

"The dress?" Julia asked, her eyes wide. She smiled widely when her grandmother nodded, and she grabbed the dress, telling her mother, "Alexis will help Mommy, stay there."

Shaking her head as the two left the room, Beckett commented, "She's getting that from you."

"I'm not that bad," Castle protested though he knew she was joking. He was looking through the pictures in his book then and started to say, "This is pretty interesting…" trailing off when he saw his wife was rubbing her hand over her abdomen.

"It's okay, just kicking," Beckett said simply. "So you like it?" she asked. A smile appeared on her face as he hurried to press his hand next to hers and she said, "Sorry Martha," since he was turned away from her.

"Oh no, far be it from me to stop him doing that," she replied, holding her hands up slightly in the air. "I saw when we first arrived it was going to take the baby stopping before he did."

"Well, it's been twenty years; almost twenty-one years; since I felt my child kicking," Castle protested. "So I'd like the chance to do it again. Oh, there she is," he said, looking up with a smile as Julia and Alexis walked back into the room. "All ready to Jive it looks like."

"Good thing I wore pants to dinner," Alexis joked. "Jules says I'm her partner for the little show we're going to put on for you guys."

"Sweetie, did you ask her or just said?" Beckett asked as Julia hurried over to her and Castle.

"I asked," the little girl insisted before she spun in front of them. "Is it good?"

"Do you feel like a dancer?" Castle asked. When the little girl nodded rapidly, he said, "Then it's good."

"It's comfortable sweetie?" Beckett asked, straightening out the skirt slightly.

"Yep," Julia said, looking down at her dress, fifties in style and a bright blue floral pattern with a full underskirt. "So can we show you now?" she asked eagerly.

"Go ahead," Beckett told them. She took Castle's hand as they watched their daughter walk out to the free space in front of the coffee table, sharing a smile with him when Julia was hopping up and down on her feet as Alexis was getting the music ready.

"Remember what I showed you?" the little girl asked her sister nervously.

"I remember, but if I mess up just keep dancing," Alexis told her, since Julia hadn't shown her that many steps and she wasn't in the habit of practicing them without her little sister.

The song started, and as soon as Julia heard the first word sung, she started to kick her legs, laughing when Alexis was a little late, watching her. She continued to dance, having an easier time since she was wearing her ballroom dance shoes, and she kicked and flicked until Castle grabbed the phone on the coffee table, turning it off to get them to stop. "But I was… dancing good!" she said in protest.

"You're… out of breath," Castle tried to say when Julia suddenly ran to Martha, hugging her and thanking her for her dress again.

"Maybe I can teach Mari, and we can dance together," Julia said eagerly once she'd pulled away from her grandmother.

"Maybe," Beckett said, taking her hand after the little girl had hugged Alexis. "But that was really nice sweetie; you've learned a lot since you started Ballroom."

"That's Latin," Julia corrected with a smile. But she then hugged her mother around her neck before reaching down to her stomach. "Think my brother or sister will like to dance? There are brothers and sisters that dance, Derek's sister dances, Julianne remember."

"I know, but you should let the baby decide what it wants to do," Beckett said.

"But if it spends time with you it might like to dance even if it doesn't want to do it as their career," Castle commented.

"You know, I have wondered what your child would do," Martha said in amusement as she looked at her son and his wife.

"Me too," Castle said, looking at Beckett.

"Oh, I'm not psychic Rick, I couldn't say," she replied, laughing a little. "Okay, why don't we dress you in your pajamas now, that way we can put you to bed right away later."  
"So Santa can come faster?" Julia asked as she waited for her mother to stand.

"Pretty much," Beckett said with a slight smile on her face. "We'll be back," she told the others before leaving to head up to her room. As she changed Julia, she was surprised to see that the little girl was quiet so she finally asked, "What's wrong my little one?"

Smiling at the endearment, Julia then said, "Will the baby like to write?"

"Maybe, I don't know," Beckett said. "You never know what people in a family want to do, sometimes they're all different, look at your sister, daddy and gram. She wants to be a psychiatrist, your daddy writes and your gram is an actress and teacher too."

"And Grandpapa is a lawyer, so was Grandmama and you were in the police and now you write and I want to be a dancer," Julia then said.

"See, there's nothing that says you need to do what your parents do," Beckett said, starting to pick up the dress to hang it in the closet. She was stopped when her daughter's tiny hand lay on her stomach and she said, "Feel it?"

"Yeah, that's the first time I guessed where it was," Julia said with a wide smile. "Mommy, does Gram know what the baby is?" she asked suddenly.

"Oh, she does," Beckett replied. "She told me she did when she came on Friday, as soon as she stepped out of the car."

"I wish I could have seen her come," Julia said, pouting as she'd been in school. "What did she say when she saw you?"

"Just that she knew, that was all she said," Beckett couldn't help laugh slightly.

"Actually she was teasing me more," Castle said as he was leaning in the doorway. He smiled when Julia cried out, "Daddy!" and he went over to her, taking her off the bed. "She just said, I know, and that was it, after she said hello."

Giggling, the little girl said, "How long now Mommy?"

"Four months," Beckett said as she followed them downstairs. "But until then, we do have the rest of tonight. Should we play a game?"

"Yes please," Julia said quickly. "What about the Monopoly game?"

"I'm still surprised you like that one so much," Castle commented to his wife as he set Julia down so she could go to their office to get it.

"It is really far out of her age range, but," Beckett said as he wrapped his arms around her. "It wouldn't hurt to get her started I think."

"Teach her how money works?" Castle asked. When she smiled he leaned down, kissing her gently on the lips at first. But when she started to respond to him, he couldn't help it, deepening it considerably before the sound of plastic moving around in a box reached them. He was a little annoyed at the interruption, but not at its source as Julia looked up at them, her already wide green eyes wider.

"Sorry," the little girl whispered shyly.

"It's okay sweetie," Beckett said, letting go of Castle and holding her hand out to their daughter. "We do want to play," she assured her as he took the game box from her. "So let's see what piece you pick out."

"I wanna be the raccoon," Julia said eagerly, feeling better about accidentally interrupting her parents as her mother's hand squeezed gently around hers, and her father leaned down to kiss her before they went into the family room. "'lexis!" she said eagerly, running to her sister. "We're gonna play the Beatles game, what do you want to be? There's a sun, a hammer, an octopus, strawberry, raccoon and a walrus."

"Who is she playing with?" Martha asked.

"With me," Castle said simply. "And she'd like to be the raccoon."

"Mommy, you be the sun," Julia said then, handing the metal piece to her mother. "'lexis you be the walrus and Gram, you can be the strawberry."

"I guess that settled it," Castle said as he was setting up the board. He smiled as the others kissed the little girl to thank her for their pieces, and then grabbed his daughter to have her stand in front of him as he handed her the dice to start seeing who would play first.

Watching as her mother went first; Julia studied the board and not quite remembering the object of the game since it'd been so long since she had played said, "What do I do?"

"You just need to try and get as many of these little houses on the albums as you can, that way you can earn money, and buying this other stuff doesn't hurt either," Castle explained. "But this is a little difficult for someone your age of course. But I'll help you," he told her as he put the dice in Julia's hands as it was their turn. "And once you get old enough to play on your own, you'll be a master."

Giggling, the little girl shook the dice in her hands and threw them on the board before she counted the black dots. "We got six, is that right?" she asked.

"It is, and that puts us on _Introducing The Beatles_ ," Castle commented. "We'll buy this one."

"I hope we can buy Sgt. Pepper," Julia whispered as Beckett was moving around the board to Shea Stadium.

"Too bad I didn't own this," she joked as she bought the card for that space. "We'd have some excellent seats for the games. And when Paul performs," she said, looking at her daughter.

"We got good seats," Julia said with a smile as Alexis went a second time. "And we got to meet him too," she said. She then studied the board and asked, "How long do we play?"

"No, you keep going around," her sister told her as she bought _A Hard Day's Night_. "But I don't think we're going to play to the end," she said, looking at her dad.

"We can't, Santa will be coming," Castle said. "But we can write down where we are and everything else before we put it away so we can play again later."

"I hope we play before school starts," Julia said seriously.

"Me too," Alexis said with a smile as her sister rolled a twelve, which put them on _Help!_

"Ooh, can we buy it?" Julia cried, jumping up and down as Castle handed his mother the money.

"We did," Castle assured her, kissing her cheek. He smiled when she kissed him back, watching his mother roll again for her turn as Julia kept her arms wrapped around him.

Watching them, Beckett couldn't help smile at the way the little girl was, admitting to herself that while she had known Julia did love her father, it had been unknown if she was going to really be that affectionate with him. When she had started becoming more so after they'd gotten back from Ireland, she was relieved, as her daughter was as demonstrative with him as she was with her. Squeezing Castle's arm as they played for another half hour, she watched him explaining the game seriously again to their daughter before making her laugh by making a joke. She was again reminded of one of the many reasons why she'd made sure he was Julia's dad, and thinking that she had a little bit of a hard time paying attention to the time. "Oh, I think that's all we can do," she commented, looking at her watch finally.

"But-" Julia started to protest.

"It is pretty late sweetheart," Castle said, seeing the time as well. "Remember, Santa's not going to come around until you're asleep."

Sighing, Julia nodded and then waited for her mother to stand up before taking her hand. While Beckett was getting a cookie they'd made the day before she asked, "Is the baby kicking Mommy?"

"Not at the moment," Beckett replied. "I think it's resting since it's not even moving. I'm not kidding Julia," she said with a smile as the little girl was touching her stomach still.

"Kay, but I hope the baby will get a present," Julia told her seriously.

"It might," Beckett laughed softly as she got a glass of milk. "Okay, put those in front of the fireplace sweetie." She followed Julia as she hurried to the family room, watching her set them next to it before Castle was taking the glass. "Thanks," she said, meaning it as she wasn't looking forward to trying to lean over and get back up.

"Say goodnight Julia," Castle told her as the little girl was fussing a bit with the plate, turning it back and forth. "Santa will eat it, don't worry."

Hurrying to her grandmother first, Julia hugged her tightly and said, "I'll see you in the morning Gram, night."

"Try not to wake up too early," Martha teased her. "I love you darling."

"Love you," Julia said with a smile before sharing a kiss with her. She went to Alexis and climbed up on her lap saying, "I can wake you up first right?"

"Right," the young woman said, since she decided she wanted to make a little tradition of waking up first with her sister to look at the gifts under the tree before everyone else. "But get some sleep now Jules. I love you."

"Love you too 'lexis," Julia said, sharing a kiss with her. She held her arms out to Castle as he went to her, and she waved at the two in the family room over his shoulder as he followed her mother.

"Okay," Castle was saying as he set Julia down on the bed after Beckett had pulled the covers down. "Try, try not to wake up too early; though I know that's impossible for you to do," he teased her as she covered her mouth to giggle. "But you should try to get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning sweetheart okay?"

"Kay, night Daddy, I love you," Julia said, hugging him tightly around the neck then as he hugged her back.

"Love you too Julia," Castle said before they shared a kiss. He ruffled her hair before letting Beckett step up, squeezing her hand in passing.

"I won't repeat it, so I'll just say that I agree with what your daddy said," she told the little girl. "And we'll see you in the morning."

"I love you Mommy," Julia said, nodding in response to what she'd said. "And you too," she said to the baby a little loudly.

"I love you too sweetie and I'm pretty sure if your brother or sister could say it, they'd tell you they love you too," Beckett assured her with a smile as she looked back to see the smile on Castle's face. She kissed Julia before kissing her temple, and had her lay down before he was pulling the cover up to her for her to take. After making sure that their daughter was tucked in, she took his hand so they could go to the door. That time they didn't stay to make sure she was asleep, seeing she was trying to as she held her Stitch doll under her chin, lying on her side. Closing the light, she followed her husband outside and as he closed the door told him, "We should get started."

"Of course," Castle agreed before they went downstairs hand in hand.

* * *

"She should enjoy this Christmas," Alexis was saying as she stood with her dad and Beckett in front of the tree.

"Yeah, it's not too bad this year," Castle commented. "And the gifts are pretty nice too."

"She'll love the books," Alexis said. "But since I'm probably going to be awake before you both, I should head to bed."

"Night kiddo, thanks for helping us," Castle told her as she hugged him.

"What he said," Beckett then said as Alexis looked at her past him. "Night." When they were alone in the room; Martha having gone to bed shortly after they'd gotten the gifts under the tree; she quickly said, "I'm fine, I appreciate the pillow you got for me."

"Happy to help," Castle said simply. "So, bed?"

"I think so," Beckett replied with a smile. She got Julia's box camera and took a picture of the tree with it saying, "I wonder how it's going to work out."

"What?" Castle asked, confused as he didn't know what she was referring to.

"I've heard that parents tend to take a lot of pictures of their first child, but lessen with each successive child if they have more than one," Beckett explained as she set the camera back on the coffee table with Julia's other camera that was charged by then. "This is our first child together, but for both of us not our first kid."

"We'll just have to see," Castle said simply as they went up the stairs then. "Like seeing what this baby will do when it's older."

"It would be funny if it was a dancer too," Beckett said.

"I think it'd be interesting, instead of the Hough siblings, the Castle siblings," he told her, raising his eyebrows up and down a few times.

Shaking her head though she was smiling at that, Beckett walked ahead of him to their room, slipping inside before she hurried to undress. Looking at her body as she was left in only her panties, she was found she was again amazed by the change in it in nearly six months. It wasn't a negative shock, more a wonder that her body had changed so much. She was so deep in thought that she nearly jumped when she felt her husband's hands on her abdomen. "What?" she asked, thinking something was wrong.

"You've got to be cold love," Castle said simply. "Need help?"

"No, just thinking," Beckett said quickly, smiling at his whisper. She pulled on her pajama pants; purposely leaving her shirt for last since she knew it would tease him. "We should get some sleep," she told him as she tugged the blue shirt down over her head.

"Probably would be a good idea," Castle said, grabbing her wrist before she could get onto the bed. When she turned to him he didn't waste any time, and instead kissed her as soon as she was within his arms. He could feel her pause in surprise at that, before she was grabbing onto him tightly, parting her lips to his tongue that had flicked against her lower one. Groaning as the taste of her seemed to explode on him, he held her tightly by the small of her back before he started to stroke her hair, trying not to get aroused. But it was a difficult thing to try and do, so he parted from her, to stop that way. It was impossible though as the next thing he knew Beckett was kissing him hungrily, clutching at his shoulders.

Trembling a little as her husband's hands slipped under her shirt at some point, Beckett found that she needed to stop herself then, carefully pulling away from him. " _I love you_ ," she murmured, looking up into his eyes.

" _Love you_ Kate," Castle said, leaning down and kissing her again. But that time the kiss was very careful and quicker than the others before it, so they parted before they were panting for air. He pressed his forehead against hers and said, "I probably should let you go shouldn't I?"

"Probably," Beckett echoed. She smiled when he let her go and pulled the covers for her saying, "You walk a fine line Castle."

"In what way?" he asked as he went around to his side and slid under the covers with her.

"You almost baby me, but not quite to the point where I could accuse you of that," Beckett told him, watching as he paused at that.

"Well, as long as I'm not getting to that, I think I'm good," Castle said simply. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers before lying down behind her as she was on her side. When he placed his hand on her abdomen he groaned saying, "Completely forgot." And before his wife could say anything, he was leaning over, kissing at the swell of her stomach, murmuring his goodnight to the baby. "Okay, now we sleep."

Beckett didn't reply to that, only smiled before she closed her eyes, not really shocked she was asleep quickly, just hoping the next night it wouldn't be happening that fast as her arousal was still lingering.

Castle was quiet as he waited until he was tired to close his eyes, finding it took him longer to get to that point than it had for his wife to fall asleep. But when he finally did, he rubbed her abdomen once, and relaxed against her as he held her close to him.

* * *

"Rick," Beckett whispered, studying his face as he slept on his side. "Hey," she said with a slight smile as he managed to open his eyes, looking at her blearily at first. "Merry Christmas."

"Christmas… morning already?" Castle asked, raising his head slightly to look behind him at the windows.

"It is," Beckett told him. She turned his face back to hers, and kissed him gently on the lips before he looked at her questioningly.

"Merry Christmas love. But why are you awake already?" Castle asked. He then realized the answer to his question and said, "It's kicking?"

"Yeah, I guess it wants me up," Beckett said jokingly as her husband put his hand on her stomach before she moved it to where the baby was. "It slowed down a little."

"Maybe it wants us to get down to the tree," Castle said simply before he leaned over and took his wife's lips before she could reply to that. He was only going to keep the kiss simple and quick when he couldn't stop himself, deepening it as she responded to him promptly. He managed to slip his tongue into her mouth; finding hers there to meet him; when he was startled into breaking away from her at the sound of little feet pounding down the hall as they ran. "I guess we were a little early for our alarm this morning," as he laid back down with her, pressed against her back while she lay on her side, knowing she was closing her eyes as he did the same.

Peeking in through the space she had opened, Julia bit her lower lip before she slipped inside. She was a little torn as to if she should wake up her mother, knowing she needed to get rest for the baby since everyone was so worried about her; thinking the rest would help her feel better. But finally she couldn't wait and she ran around to the other side of the bed, climbing up and jumping up and down once before Castle jumped up with a playful growl and grabbed her. Her short scream wasn't so much out of fear, but in surprise that he was awake already. "I thought I was gonna wake you up," she giggled as she got on her knees. "Merry Christmas Daddy, Mommy," she told them as she hugged Castle first tightly, kissing his cheek.

"Merry Christmas," Beckett said, taking Julia into her arms as she climbed over Castle's lap to go to her.

"How come you woke up now? I was supposed to wake you up," Julia said teasingly.

"Your brother or sister wanted me to get up," Beckett told her, kissing her cheek gently.

"Is it kicking now?" Julia breathed in excitement.

"No, it stopped," Beckett said. "And since I'm sure your sister is up too, you should go and get Martha," she told the little girl as she helped her off the bed.

"No need, I'm here," Castle's mother said, appearing in the doorway with Alexis. "Merry Christmas you two, how is the baby?"

Smiling at the way her mother in law had worded it, Beckett got off the bed as Castle was grabbing her robe and said, "The baby is fine, eager to be up this morning." Slipping her arms through the sleeves as he held the robe open for her, she couldn't help laughing as Julia was touching her stomach before she said, "Sweetie, the second the baby kicks again I promise you I will tell you."

"Kay," Julia said, sounding excited. "Can we go to the tree?"

"Did you two look at the presents already?" Castle asked as he threw his robe on quickly.

"Oh, you didn't hear them? Well, heard Julia I should say," Martha commented as they went to the stairs together. "I could hear her squealing over the presents."

"You should see Gram," Julia insisted. "They're so pretty, and a lot of them. And one of them is for the baby from Santa!"

Glancing at her husband as she had an idea already of who had put that gift under the tree, Beckett stepped into the family room ahead of them, smiling as their daughter took her hand and pulled her to the tree, pointing to some of the gifts. "Okay, sit and we'll start opening," she said to try and calm her down.

"Here you go," Castle said. "Are we going to have coffee and tea first though?"

"I'll stay with Mommy," Julia said seriously.

Looking at the little girl, Beckett asked when the others had left them alone, "Why did you do that?"

"'Cause I want you to be kay, and the baby," Julia said. "So I can tell Daddy if you need him."

"Thank you," Beckett said with a smile as she held her arm open to her. When Julia was next to her she cuddled her close, feeling the little girl snuggling against her side. "Hmm, I love you sweetie."

"I love you too Mommy, lots and lots," Julia told her seriously. "Not just 'cause it's Christmas," she said quickly. "All the days in a year, and years."

"I'll agree with her about that," Castle said, coming in with two mugs. "Some cider for you sweetheart," handing the less filled mug to Julia. "And for you love." He wasn't surprised when Beckett took the mug with one hand, and with the other took his chin in between her fingers, pulling him down to her for a kiss. Nor was he taken aback at that being very slow and careful since he knew their daughter was likely trying to look away.

He was right, at that moment Julia was looking down into her mug before she tried to take a sip, crying out, "Ouch!" before her parents parted and looked to her. "Sorry," she said softly. "It's too hot."

"Here, I'll put it on the table since we're going to start opening the presents now anyways," Beckett told her, taking the mug as she could hear Martha and Alexis coming down the hall to the room.

"You're first," Castle told Julia as she looked at him, her hands clenched together under her chin as she was tense.

"Get the one in the penguin wrapping paper," Beckett said. She nodded at the one Julia picked up and wrapped her arm around her as the little girl sat in between her and Castle.

Tear off the wrapping a little, Julia cried out and without taking the rest of the paper off it; she clutched it to her chest. "Thank you!" she exclaimed as she had seen on the tag it was from her parents.

"What is it?" Martha asked with a slight smile as Alexis on the other side of her father was trying to see what the gift was too.

"It's _Venus and Mars_ ," Julia said, bouncing up and down on her knees, taking off the paper and showing them the box set of the album. "Thank you," she told her parents happily. "Can I open it?"

"Why don't you wait until after we're finished," Castle suggested. "It's your sister's turn next."

"Kay," Julia said, though she reluctantly set aside the box. She popped up on her feet then, and ran over to the tree, taking the gift that Martha told her to get. While her sister was unwrapping the gift she sat on her knees in front of her, watching Alexis closely.

Working through the gifts took some time as there were a number of them under the tree. But as the pile of them slowly got worked down, one gift was left alone, as Julia was careful not to disturb it while she was spending the morning grabbing the presents, everyone looking over at it except for her and Castle.

"Oof, this one's heavy," Beckett said with a smile as Julia carried a gift to her with both arms. She tore off the paper, not really surprised to see a light blue box underneath. "Is this going to be a tradition for us?"

"I don't know, depends if they're going to put out pieces that I know you'll like," Castle said simply. He turned to her then and helped her get the statute out of the box, watching her turn it back and forth.

Studying the two horses galloping side by side, Beckett smiled at her husband, seeing him watching her, and told him, "This will be joining your polo player piece on the bookcase. Thank you love." She leaned over and shared a quick kiss with him before she handed the statue over to Alexis for her to see. She watched Julia run over to the tree again though Alexis was looking at the Lladro with Martha. "That one," she said with a nod, smiling as the little girl looked at her questioningly. "It's his last one… how did we end up again with the most gifts?"

"Just happens," Castle told her with a shrug. He laughed as she pushed him slightly, straightening up quickly when Julia came over with the box. He shared a kiss with her when she leaned over for one and then pulled her down to his lap saying, "Help me out."

"But it's your present," Julia said, looking up at him.

"That's okay, keep helping me," Castle said as he started to tear the paper. With her help he uncovered a book, with a picture of him, Beckett and their daughters on the front. "The wedding?" he asked.

"Look and see," Beckett urged him with a smile, watching him.

Flipping open the book, Castle was surprised to see pictures of him and Beckett with their daughters from the time she had adopted Julia to Halloween; the last picture of them in their costumes. "What do you think?" he asked the little girl, who was looking with him.

"I like it, but you need to too," the little girl said seriously, glancing up at him.

"I do," Castle said, kissing the top of her head before leaning over to Beckett, kissing her. "Okay, get your gram's gift for her," he told Julia who was already getting off his lap to go to the tree.

"Thank you darling, and this is from you," Martha said with a smile as she kissed her granddaughter's cheek.

"Open it first," Julia urged her. "See what it is."

Martha ripped off the paper, and from the box underneath it, took out a high heel shoe, a bright blue. "Beautiful, absolutely stunning, and you have a wonderful memory Julia," she told her, hugging her with one arm.

"She told us about those shoes when we were back in the city in November," Castle commented. "She remembered them and was insistent that we try to find them; luckily we did."

"Wonderful, wonderful gift, I have had a very pleasant Christmas morning," Martha told Julia who was watching her with a wide smile on her face. "But yours isn't quite finished yet; you and your mother have gifts still."

"And the baby," the little girl told her quickly. She then hurried to the tree and took her final present before she sat back down between her parents. She was rapidly ripping off the paper until she was revealing a pale blue box and opened the top before pulling out a Lladro of the god Ganesha dancing. "Oooh, thank you Mommy, thank you Daddy!" she cried as she held the statue in her hands. "It's so pretty."

"We're glad you like it, since you liked the one your daddy got for Alexis so much," Beckett said.

"Oh, I do, I do," Julia said, smiling as she rocked back and forth a few times. She handed the statue then to Alexis, before she hurried to the tree and the final gift before the baby's. She had to go back to her mother carefully, since it was a little big, and she made it back to her parents, setting it down on Beckett's lap.

"Thank you," she told her daughter with a smile, bringing her against her side as she began to unwrap the present. She wasn't too shocked to uncover a book, but before she could open it and see what was in it, the baby chose that moment to kick against the side of her abdomen, making Beckett slightly jerk in surprise, laughing as Julia quickly put her hand on it, trying to feel another kick. "Right there," she said, looking at her husband as his hand appeared in her sight as she was leading the little girl's hand over to where the baby was. She watched Castle's hand follow their daughter's before she felt a lighter tap to where they were touching.

"Nice," Castle said before his wife looked at him. "Either our baby's practicing to be a soccer player or else they're practicing kicks in a Jive; they're going to be a dancer."

Giggling at that, Julia was first to notice that the baby had calmed down and she leaned against her mother's side. "Look at the book Mommy, see what it is," she urged her.

"Do you know what's in it?" Beckett asked, stroking her hair.

"No, but I wanna see… please?" Julia said meekly.

Opening the cover, Beckett saw the first picture, and it was the one she'd taken of Trinity College when they'd been in Dublin. She flipped though the next few pages, seeing all the photographs were ones she had taken during the honeymoon, as well as some of Castle's pictures he'd taken with the camera as there were pictures of them both in it.

"I got as many pictures in there as I could, hopefully you enjoy my selection," Castle told her.

Leaning over, Beckett cupped her husband's cheek, kissing him tenderly on the lips to give him his answer, very slowly before she finally had to pull herself away from him. "So, we're almost done," she said to him as he stared at her.

"Right, Julia?" Castle said to her as she was watching them with a small smile on her face.

Nodding rapidly, Julia rushed to the tree as her father got up and started taking the mugs to the kitchen. "Open it," she urged her mother as she held the small box in her hands.

"Did he tell you to get me to open it while he does something?" Beckett asked with a smile.

"More than likely," Martha said. "Though not really subtle."

"Still, he wants me to do it, so I guess I should," Beckett said, and with that she unwrapped the box, taking off the cover to pull out the card that was inside.

"What is it?" Alexis asked, as a soft, kind of tender smile spread across Beckett's face.

"I'll be back," Beckett said, looking at the others before she stood up with her stepdaughter's help. She expected Julia to come with her, but when she looked back at the doorway she was surprised to see the little girl still sitting, but looking at her other boxed set of Paul's album _Wings at the Speed of Sound_ she and Castle had given her. She had to admit that she was fully confused and piqued by then, since all that had been in the box was a card that said, _Meet me upstairs_ in his handwriting. When she reached the top of the stairs, she wasn't too shocked to find her husband in front of the baby's room and she asked, "So this is the one present the baby gets today?"

"It's also for you too," Castle told her, wrapping his arms around her tightly before they kissed. Since they had the chance, he made it passionate, loving the feel of her lips against his, feeling like it had been days since they'd kissed that way; when it had only been hours. He slowly tilted his head to the side as Beckett was doing the same, feeling her holding onto him tightly before they had to breathe. Pressing his forehead to hers, he murmured her name before he finally made himself pull away. "Sorry," he said quickly. "I know Julia will want to play with her gifts."

"Listen to them too," Beckett said with a smile as he took her hand, leading her to the door to the baby's room that was closed.

"Close your eyes," Castle told her. When she just gave him a look he said, "Humor me Kate, please?"

Sighing as she couldn't resist the obvious pleading in his voice, Beckett did as he asked, and let him take her hands once she heard the door open. She smiled as he walked her into the room; standing behind her once he had her inside. When he whispered into her ear for her to open her eyes, she quickly did so, and took in the room; seeing instantly that he had finished it. "How did you?" she said as she went to the crib first.

"David helped me out with the furniture," Castle said. "Remember when you headed into the city to shop with my mom? She had wanted to invite you, so I just suggested the date. And Julia helped with getting the little decorations here and there. Plus she and I picked this out together," he told her as he led her over to the long dresser where there was a Lladro in the middle of the short vases of sand and shells obviously collected from the beach outside.

"It's perfect, it almost matches the colors of the walls," Beckett said with a smile, touching the scales of the fish in the circle that was a soft blue. "All of this looks beautiful," she told him, seeing the bed in the corner for when the baby was older they'd picked out. She then caught sight of something covered with a blanket and she gestured at it wordlessly, her raised eyebrow her question.

"This is my gift to you," Castle said, taking her over to the object. He drew off the blanket, revealing a rocking chair in white to match the furniture.

"Oh Rick, this is beautiful," Beckett told him as she squeezed his arm once he was standing next to her again.

"Sit, try it out," Castle urged her. Watching her sitting down on the chair he waited, studying her closely before she looked up at him.

"I've seen this before," Beckett said in realization. "It looks like my mother's rocking chair that was in my room as a kid for years, just white." She looked at the back of the chair and then turned to her husband. "Is this her chair?" she asked, sounding startled.

"It is," Castle said. "I asked your dad if there was anything that he had from when you were a baby, blankets, clothes, anything. He has some stuff in storage, but he suggested that I wait and look at what he has with you. Then I asked if there was a crib, bassinet or a rocking chair. And he sent me this, giving me full permission to get it sanded down and painted, as he said your mom would have been alright with it."

"I think she would have," Beckett said with a slightly tearful smile. Before she could stop it, a tear slid down her cheek and she muttered a slight curse before brushing it away. She felt Castle kneel in front of her and she looked at him, cupping his cheeks, "I love you Rick, for this… for what you're doing for our baby."

"I need to, it's our baby," Castle told her seriously, taking her hands off his face. Kissing at her palms he murmured, "And I want to let it know that I love it, by making sure it has a place to sleep, and is protected by me too. Don't want to slack there."

Laughing slightly, Beckett leaned over to press her forehead against his before telling him, "I don't think you need to worry about that." She then studied him and asked, "Does that worry you? Not bonding with our baby?"

"I worried about that with Alexis too," Castle said with a nod. "There's only so much I can really do."

"Well, judging by what you're doing now, I don't think you need to worry about that," Beckett said.

"I can tell the baby you're a great daddy, Daddy!" Julia cried to them.

"You can come in sweetheart," Castle said, laughing with his wife as she rushed inside. "She likes it," he said before their daughter could say anything.

"Oh yay!" Julia cried, running to her mother. She was surprised when Beckett started to pick her up, and her father helped her set her on her mother's lap. She pressed her palm to her mother's stomach and told the baby, "He's a good daddy and Mommy's the best mommy so we're lucky."

"You're a sweet girl Julia," Beckett said, kissing her temple. "What's that?" she asked nodding to what the little girl was holding.

"The other gift for the baby, but with this one I swear that's it," Castle said as she looked up at him with a smile.

"It's from me Mommy, is that kay?" Julia asked shyly, handing her the gift wrapped in white.

"Of course," Beckett said, hugging her tightly before she ripped the paper off. There was a box inside and once she had the lid off of that she saw that there were seven shells inside and she looked up at her daughter. "Sweetie, these are from-"

"The beach in San Francisco," Julia said quickly. "I picked from those 'cause I thought that was when we got to be a family and not have to say we weren't. The baby wasn't there, but I think it should have a shell too."

"You're right," Beckett said, studying each one. "How did you pick them?" she asked with a smile.

"Whoever they fit best to her," Castle explained for their daughter.

"Yeah, and I picked this one 'cause it's white 'cause we don't know what the baby is gonna be or what it will be like, but it's pretty," Julia said. When her mother kissed her again at that she asked, "What will you do with them Mommy?"

"I think we should put them on a white canvas, like the ones in our room with that tree art we did, and hang it right there above the taller dresser. Where the clothes your gram and sister got for the baby for Christmas already are," Beckett said, ending on a wry tone of voice.

"I told you they weren't going to be able to resist, but they didn't go crazy at least. And as for the shells, we'll do that after New Years," Castle said, able to see what his wife was describing. "What do you think sweetheart?"

"Perfect, and a good idea Mommy," Julia said seriously. She hugged her mother tightly before whispering, "Can we look at all the presents now?"

"We can," Beckett said, watching Julia slide down to the floor before she stood up. "That always was a nice chair," she commented, smiling at her husband.

"It is, I hope I might use it sometime when you need me to help with the baby," Castle said.

"I'll probably take you up on that," Beckett said before she took his hand and they left with Julia. As they were walking down the hall after the door was closed, she was surprised when Julia suddenly stopped in front of them and turned to them. "What is it?" she asked, seeing the slightly hesitant look on the little girl's face.

"Do Gram and Alexis get to see the room?" Julia said.

"Actually, we're going to have them wait too," Castle said. "We're hoping your grandpapa is here when the baby comes home, so they all can see it together at once. It's fairer that way."

"Oh, can I tell them I saw the room?" Julia then inquired.

"Go ahead, tell them it's beautiful, and I'll mention you two did a great job," Beckett said, smiling at her husband as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "But for now, let's go down and see all your toys."

"And can we go out and play? The snow is still there and soft," Julia said eagerly.

"No."

"Yes," Castle and Beckett said at the same time. Looking at him she said, "I'll bundle up, I promise, and I'll be careful."

"Sorry, knee-jerk reaction," Castle apologized. "But yeah, it would be fun to head out for a little. Don't forget we're going out later again."

"I know, let's go and look at all the presents now we can see them!" Julia said eagerly once they reached the bottom of the stairs. She took her parents' hands, taking them into the family room where Martha and Alexis were already looking over their gifts, running to one of the Rupert Bear books she'd gotten from her parents from their trip to Ireland. Going to Castle who was sitting with her mother on the couch, she held it out to him, climbing up onto his lap as he and Beckett held it so they could all see the pictures, eventually Alexis came over before Martha joined them and they looked over the illustrations of the red and yellow clad bear all together, making Julia feel very happy and safe as she hummed a song under her breath.

* * *

Watching Julia next to him kicking at the snow as she was humming, Castle couldn't help ask, "You've got that song still stuck in your head?"

"Yeah, 'cause we were looking at the Rupert books," the little girl told him in a matter of fact tone. "I can't wait to get to read them all."

When she went back to humming again, Castle was about to ask her if she wanted him to play it on his phone when she let go of his hand and started to make a pile of snow. While he was walking up to her, he got an answer to his question as she began to outright sing, singing the chorus since she'd understood that when she'd first heard the song.

" _Rupert will be singing a song, Rupert will be rolling along, Rupert will be singing a song of love_ ," Julia sang, trying to get her pile of snow to roll into a head for a snowman. She gasped when she was suddenly picked up and said, "Why did you do that Daddy?" startled.

"Just because I love you," Castle said, kissing her cheek.

"And probably because you remember lyrics as well as you do," Beckett called out as she and Alexis walked up to them.

"Are you warm Mommy? Is the baby?" Julia asked, having to turn her head to the side to keep her scarf from covering her mouth.

"We're fine," Beckett said, going over to her and sharing a kiss with her. "We can't stay out too long; we're having an early dinner so we can go see the lights."

"I know, I will be outside then," Julia said. "I'm glad we didn't go 'till today," she said as Castle set her down.

"We brought the stuff for the snowman," Alexis told her sister. "Let's make that first since you started it."

"Why are you glad we're going today sweetheart?" Castle asked as he and Beckett got started on the lower portion of the snowman.

"'Cause it's Christmas and it makes it special," Julia said simply. "I hope Gram goes," she told Alexis.

"She's going to wait and see how cold it gets," Beckett said then. "That's why we're eating so early, so we go right when it's dark."

"What if I get hungry again before bedtime?" Julia inquired.

"We'll have some hot chocolate and cookies again," Castle said. "And we'll have leftovers here if we're really hungry. Ready with the head?" he asked.

"Yeah," Julia said, taking it from Alexis and hurrying over to them. She wrinkled her nose and said in a mock whining voice, "He's too tall."

"Sorry, I had to, that way your mom's not bending over constantly," Castle said, tugging on the cord of her Stitch hat to her giggle.

"What do you want to do now sweetie?" Beckett asked as Alexis helped her dad decorate the snowman. "Snowball fight?"

"No, 'cause I don't want you to do that Mommy," Julia said. "And what if I hit you here? I would hit the baby!" she said worriedly as she touched her mother's stomach.

"Easy Julia," Beckett said, hugging her daughter as she threw her arms around her. "You could play with your daddy and Alexis."

"No, when you don't have the baby here we'll have a long fight and I'll fight with you," Julia said. "Can you make snow angels with me Mommy?"

"I can," Beckett said with a smile before Julia led her to the side of the yard under a bare tree where the snow was undisturbed. She watched the little girl flop back, but she was a little more careful before she moved her arms and legs at the same time before catching her hand.

"They're gonna hold hands," Julia giggled, looking at her mother.

"They are," Castle said, standing in front of them with Alexis. "Try and get up so you can see, I think they look pretty good."

Standing up carefully, Julia watched as he helped her mother up, and she smiled before looking down at the two figures, who did look like they were holding hands. "They're perfect," she announced. She felt someone hitting the snow off her back and looked to see it was her sister, smiling widely at her before cried out, "Tag!" hitting her sister on the arm.

As the two started to run around the yard, Castle wrapped his arm around his wife's waist as they watched. He and Beckett called out encouragement to them before Julia slipped and sat down hard, laughing wildly before her sister scooped her up, and they headed back inside together to prepare for dinner as already the sun was sinking lower to the west.

* * *

"Are you excited 'lexis, I'm excited," Julia said, hopping from foot to foot the best she could in all the layers she was wearing.

"I am," Alexis assured her, unable to help smile at her sister.

"Are you two ready?" Beckett asked, coming over to them.

"Yeah, I have my camera," Julia said, holding it up so her mother could see.

"Okay, then I think it's time we started," Castle said. "You're warm?" he asked his wife as they fell in step behind their daughters.

"I'm good," Beckett said. "And there are the Fosters."

"Martha didn't want to venture out?" Rebecca said as the group got close to them.

"Not really," Castle commented. "Way too cold, and she cautioned Kate against it, but she decided to come out anyway."

"I think he's hoping you'll convince me I should go back," Beckett said, rolling her eyes as she hugged her friend quickly.

"Sounds like it," Rebecca said. "But this is normal, remember I told you?"

"I remember," Beckett said as she looked down at Julia and Mari who were talking excitedly about the gifts they'd gotten that morning. "That being said, it's cold and we should get moving before we freeze."

"Stay on the sidewalk," David called ahead to the two girls who were walking with Alexis.

"How was your Christmas dinner?" Rebecca asked, looking at Beckett who she was walking next to, pausing as at the first house on the corner the three ahead were looking at the lights and decorations.

"Pretty good," Beckett replied. "We had to keep reminding her to eat as she was too excited to come here."

"We had that same problem," Rebecca commented, shaking her head. "Luckily telling her we couldn't take her if she was hungry worked."

"That's basically what we told Julia," Beckett said with a smile. "And that worked too."

"How are you?" Rebecca asked in a low tone of voice so their husbands wouldn't hear.

"Fine, but I'm starting to get the idea that the more I show, the more he's going to worry about me," Beckett replied, nodding back slightly to Castle.

"It happens," Rebecca said. "Dave was really concerned all through my pregnancy since it took us so long to conceive. So the bigger the baby got, the more solicitous he was towards me. I'm assuming Rick's doing the same?"

"Basically," Beckett said with a smile. "It is a little amusing though, never realized that he would be like that, though it shouldn't surprise me."

"Not really," Rebecca replied as they stopped in front of the next house. "And the book?"

"We took a break with the holidays, but it's coming along pretty nicely, quickly too," Beckett said. "Since he'll write some sections on his own."

"Have you written on your own?" Rebecca asked.

"Not yet, I don't feel that comfortable yet," Beckett commented.

"She will soon I'm sure," Castle said as he and David joined them in front of the house the three were looking at. "You just need to get more comfortable with writing love."

"I figured," Beckett said with a slight smile. "Okay, I'm already cold; we need to get some hot chocolate."

"Are you guys cold?" Castle said as he went over to his daughter, Mari and Julia looking at the screen of her camera to see a picture she'd just taken.

"I want some hot chocolate," Julia said immediately. She smiled when her father looked surprised and told him, "I heard what Mommy said."

"Daddy, Mommy, can I get some-" Mari started to ask her parents.

"We'll all get some," Rebecca interrupted her quickly. As their husbands and the girls went to the garage of the next house where the owners had a little stall set up, she said, "Forgot to ask, any good gifts today?"

"A few," Beckett replied, smiling as she thought of them. "But after we finished he surprised me with the baby's room being completed. Or did you know about that?"

"I knew Dave was helping him out with getting the furniture set," Rebecca told her. "But didn't know it was to finish the room as a gift. How does it look?"

"Beautiful," Beckett said. "You'll see it if you come over to see the baby."

"I would love to, but I'm not inviting myself over," Rebecca replied.

"Then you're invited, the three of you," Beckett said, smiling again. "Thank you," she said to her husband gratefully when he handed her a cup of hot chocolate. When she looked to their daughter she wasn't too surprised to see Julia nibbling on the arm of a gingerbread man cookie. "You couldn't resist could you?" she asked him teasingly.

"Of course not," Castle said. "Better?" he queried as he watch his wife sipping carefully at the hot drink.

"Very, let's keep walking," Beckett said. "But sweetie, I don't think we can go through the whole neighborhood this time."

"That's kay, we came before and did," Julia said with a shrug of one shoulder. She walked with Mari ahead of everyone and said, "Did you come before?"

"Yeah, when it was warmer," the little girl replied with a nod. "So why do you take pictures if you took them before."

"'Cause I get new pictures, I don't take the same," Julia said. She finished her gingerbread cookie as they got to a hedge with lights all along the top of it. She took a picture of just the lights on the top and told her friend, "I didn't get that one before."

"That's a pretty one," Mari said seriously, nodding. She then giggled with Julia and they went skipping hand in hand to the next house, waiting for the others to catch up with them as she watched her friend taking pictures of the brightly lit home.

* * *

"It was a pretty good idea waiting to give you a bath until now Jules, that way you can warm up," Alexis was saying to her sister as she waited for her to give her the washcloth she'd used. Rinsing it out she said, "Come on, need to get you to bed."

"But it's Christmas," Julia sighed as she stood up in the tub, waiting for Alexis to get the towel ready for her. "Can't I stay up late?"

"You're already yawning," the young woman pointed out. "And besides, I can't say if you can stay up, your mom and Dad need to say."

"And it's time for you to be in bed," Beckett said after she'd opened the door.

Sighing deeply Julia nodded before Alexis rubbed her dry and she got herself dressed with a little help from her sister. "Thank you for helping me," she said seriously.

"You're welcome," Alexis replied, starting to clean up when their dad came into the room.

"I'll take care of this," Castle told her. "Go ahead and say goodnight."

"Ooh, my books, Mommy can't I read one with you? Daddy, please?" Julia said as she was led out into the room by her mother since Alexis had helped her brush her teeth before giving her her bath.

"Tomorrow we'll look at them," Beckett said. "And we'll get you to bed at your normal time so we have a chance to read one book."

Sighing yet again, Julia had to nod to that as she was feeling tired from the walk around the lights and then getting to play some of her new games with her friend and sister as the Fosters had come over afterwards. "That was a fun Christmas," she said as she got on top of her bed. "Lots of fun, better than last year 'cause you and Daddy weren't married then Mommy."

"I know," Beckett said, starting to brush Julia's hair. She paused as Alexis was standing next to them and said, "Sorry do you want to say good night to her now?"

"I'm good, I was just going to head to my room so that can wait a little," the young woman replied. "Are you feeling warmer?" she asked her dad's wife.

"Oh much, your dad made sure I recovered after the walk," Beckett said with a smile as she went back to brushing Julia's hair.

"I had to make sure you didn't get hypothermia," Castle said simply. "But it was pretty fun."

"Can we do that every year? A tradi… tradi… what's the word?" Julia asked Castle as he came over to the bed and kissed the top of her head.

"Tradition," he replied. "And we could, but next year we'll have the baby."

"I think Gram would watch it for us," Alexis said as Beckett took the brush back to the bathroom. "In fact I know she would, so we could do that, and it would be nice to go around."

"We'll see what happens, but we can try," Beckett said. "Alright sweetie, say goodnight to your sister."

Standing up on the bed quickly, Julia wrapped her arms around her sister's neck tightly as she pressed her cheek to hers and said, "Night 'lexis, I can't wait for tomorrow to play my new toys."

"Me too, love you Jules," Alexis said, kissing her cheek.

"Love you too," Julia said, sharing a kiss with her. She then turned to her father and said with a wide smile, "You will play too right?"

"Of course, I'm looking forward to playing with my girls," Castle said. "And we'll play all day…"

"You can if you want," Beckett said as he'd trailed off looking over his shoulder at her.

"Okay, then yes, we'll play all day," Castle said as Julia laughed a little. He embraced her tightly and kissed her temple as he said, "I had a great Christmas too you know."

"Yeah?" Julia asked, looking up at him.

"Yep," Castle said as she smiled widely in response. "And they always say, as you get older, Christmases get better."

"That's true," Julia said earnestly. "Next year is gonna be good 'cause the baby will be here."

Feeling Beckett squeeze his arm, Castle told her, "I think you're right. But since it's another year away…"

"Time to sleep," Julia said, pursing her lips. She giggled before she shared a kiss with her father and said, "Love you Daddy, lots."

"I love you too sweetheart," Castle told her, brushing her hair off her cheek. "Sweet dreams."

Beckett stepped up to the bed, not too surprised when Julia reached down to her stomach, laying her hand there. "I think your brother or sister is asleep too," she told the little girl. She smiled when Julia pouted, but then reached up with her arms to hug her tightly. "Night sweetie, I love you so much," she told her.

"Love you Mommy," Julia said, pressing close to her mother. "Hope you stay warm tonight."

"I'll make sure she does," Castle said since the little girl looked at him when she said that.

"Into bed," Beckett told Julia, making her lay down. Tucking her in she then leaned down and shared a kiss with her before smoothing her hair away from her forehead. "Sweet dreams," she murmured before going to Castle where he was waiting in the doorway. That night it didn't take long before their daughter was asleep, and she turned off the lights before leaving, her husband closing the door behind them.

"I'd like to do one thing before we head into our room," Castle told her, as they were alone in the hall, Alexis and Martha in their rooms.

"Alright," Beckett told him with a smile. She followed him downstairs and watched him grab a bottle from the fridge as well as their Waterford crystal glasses before leading her to the door outside. "Is this a surprise because I'm pretty aware of what you want to do."

"Not really, I thought you'd guess," Castle said with a shrug as he buttoned his coat.

"Then you should pour that out here before we head to the gazebo," Beckett said, nodding to the bottle and glasses.

With a nod, Castle opened the bottle, pouring out the sparkling apple cider before he handed one glass to his wife. He let her lead that time, following her outside to the gazebo where the lights were still on. "Pretty cold, much more than last year," he said, watching her closely.

"Enough for a quick toast," Beckett replied as she knew what he was concerned about. "To us Rick," she told him.

"To us love," Castle echoed. He tapped his glass against hers, and sipping at it he watched her, remembering a year before when he'd proposed. "A lot's changed," he said simply, giving voice to his thoughts.

"I know," Beckett said. "I was thinking about that myself."

"Regrets?" Castle asked her.

"No, no regrets," Beckett told him simply as she gave him a smile before she stood up, and reached over to him, taking his hand.

* * *

Studying the hand he held, Castle closed his around it and said, "I never really noticed how small your hands are."

"You ever stop to think your hands are fairly big?" Beckett teased him, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Not really," Castle told her. He smiled when she rolled her eyes and then wrapped both his arms around her tightly. They were in the tub in their bathroom, relaxing and; as he told her they should do; warming up. He moved his hands to her abdomen, and was able to feel a light tap under his left hand. "Still awake," he told her.

"It started moving around when I was getting undressed," Beckett said with a smile as she covered his hand with hers. She felt the baby move slightly before stopping, making her say, "I think it read my mind," before she got up suddenly and turned to her husband, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

Castle was able to react quickly as his wife crushed his lips with her own, and he held her as close to him as he possibly could while her tongue slid into his mouth. He could feel in how she was cupping the back of his head with both her hands that she was holding back. The way her entire body was rigid in his arms also lending credence to that. He moved back, and kissed her neck, brushing his lips over it softly before he moved down to the hollow of her throat, nipping at the edge of it. "God love, _I want you_ ," his voice husky as he tilted his head up and she kissed his cheeks repeatedly as he spoke.

" _I know, I want you too_ ," Beckett told him with a smile before cupping his face in her hands. She then looked in between them, not surprised at the sight of his arousal, since she'd been feeling it before as she'd leaned against him. She slid her hands down then from his head to go to his chest, brushing against his nipples before she went further. She was a little amazed when he didn't try to stop her, so she looked up at him, seeing his eyes on her, staring intently. Biting her lower lip, she was a little surprised when he suddenly cupped the back of her head, and instead of kissing her as she thought he would do, he whispered into her ear.

When his wife looked at him in slight protest, Castle kissed her then, and was able to distract her enough as he moved her around to sit on the slight ledge before the wall behind the tub. "I can't really tell if you're in the same situation I am at this moment," he told her simply as she parted her legs for him when he'd touched her knees. "So I'd like to check and make sure this isn't one sided."

"You just want me to be first," Beckett teased him.

"Of course," was all that Castle said before he lowered his head. He flicked his tongue out carefully to her folds, groaning when he could tell already from that that she was ready. He began to lap at her in earnest, soon hooking his arms up around her thighs so his fingers could join in along with his mouth. He was pleased when he very quickly had her moaning in response, writhing a little against him though he tried to keep her as still as possible.

Though she tried to watch him, Beckett found herself hampered by her stomach; it had curved out enough to block him from her view. But she soon found that wasn't such a bad thing, as she could feel what he was doing to her more. Carefully thrusting her hips against him as he was doing something with his tongue that had her pressing her back against the wall, she reached down, able to cup the back of his head. She clutched it tightly, closing her eyes as the sensation of his tongue and fingers were joining together to leave her a little out of control of herself.

Castle got a sudden idea in feeling the rhythm of his wife's body against him; though it was restrained by lack of space and to a small degree him. He moved his head back, and carefully slid his first two fingers within her, hearing her short cry at that. He couldn't resist himself, and he moved up to her, kissing her lips greedily as she moved more easily against him since he wasn't in the way at that point. He curled his tongue around hers inside of her mouth at the same time, and he groaned as he suddenly felt something moving above his hand. He ended the kiss to see what it was, not that taken aback to find it was his wife's hand, her fingers rubbing her clit. "You're amazing my love, I adore you," he nearly hissed to her.

"I love you Rick," Beckett moaned, hurrying to move with Castle's fingers as they started to speed up.

" _Move with me_ ," he told her, watching her closely to see her reaction to that.

Beckett couldn't help the cry that escaped her lips then, as though it wasn't the first time he'd told her that, it was the first time he'd used Irish, and it was too much to really stand. Closing her eyes tightly, she listened to Castle speaking to her, almost guiding her movements. When he moved suddenly, sitting on the ledge next to her, she looked at him and gasped slightly at the abrupt move of his hand turning. His fingers then began trying to move in an upwards, hooking motion, and she couldn't stop the jerk of her body in reaction to him soon finding her g-spot, or the cry that escaped her lips. She was moving with him again, and couldn't stop herself as she reached back down to the apex of her legs, pleasuring herself while he was pleasuring her.

With his other arm wrapping around her back, Castle began to slide his lips along her collarbone, feeling her shaking against him in response. He could feel the heat of her body as he moved up to her neck, feeling the way her pulse was racing under him. Looking down her form, he saw that she was pleasuring herself again and he couldn't help kissing her before he murmured against her lips, "You love this don't you Kate."

Turning her head to the side as he kissed a heated trail down her cheek to her neck again, Beckett didn't reply to that, but when he slowed down the movements of his fingers, she finally cried, "Yes… god Rick!"

Having moved his fingers once, deliberately, Castle was able to get that response from her and once he had he quickly went back to moving at the rhythm he was at before. Finally, he could feel her starting to lose her control, her body arched against the wall and in his arm. He kissed her deeply on the lips, and kept that up until he could feel her reaching her peak.

With her orgasm, Beckett cried out Castle's name once before she felt his lips along her shoulders, her entire body was burning, aching almost and forgetting that she was sitting on the cold ledge. The pleasure was intense, seeming to be unending to her as he whispered to her as well, though with the roaring in her ears she couldn't make out what he was saying exactly. It didn't matter though, as once she was finally able to calm down, she was highly satiated and she opened her eyes to look at her husband, bringing him down to her lips. It was gentle, which she was grateful for as it helped her come down completely. And with that, she pulled back to look into his eyes before she slid her hands down his chest and to his groin.

Closing his eyes tightly once as she grasped his erection, Castle forced them back open so he could watch his wife, and found himself startled to see her getting into the water, on her knees. He was momentarily having a hard time breathing as she almost delicately handled him, seeming to be studying his member. He was going to ask why she was doing that, before she suddenly leaned over, taking him in her mouth. It was his turn to push back against the wall as the sensation was instantaneous and it felt like he was being shocked. A brief, rough feeling and he was reaching down to her, threading his fingers through her hair, watching her fixedly.

Feeling that, Beckett would have smiled if she wasn't concentrating on her actions, but for some reason, his hand stroking her hair reminded her of something. She then proceeded to move in a rhythm on him, alternating between slow and fast, not surprised when he groaned heavily and deeply as his body moved at the same time a little away from her on the ledge before he could control it. She hurriedly moved to follow him, and kept on pleasuring him, letting as much time pass as she could before she pulled away.

The sudden sensation of air around his length had Castle looking down in time to see his wife sitting up before she kissed him. Luckily her hand was curling around his erection, and he moved a little in time with her as he held her tightly against his side before sinking his tongue into her mouth since they were still kissing. He groaned every once in a while as her hand squeezed around him at different points. When he pulled away from her to breathe, he wasn't surprised when she kept close to him and then whispered something to him. "Wh-what?" he had to ask as he hadn't been able to hear her.

"What do you want?" Beckett said simply. "My hand or my mouth."

Shuddering as both were equally good, Castle made his decision instantly and told her, "Hand," before he was kissing her hard. He felt his lips throb in protest at that, but he didn't ease up as he and his wife were working hard to try and make sure that their tongues were all over each other. When they had no choice but to part so they could get some kind of oxygen in their lungs, he could feel himself nearing the edge, and he began to ask, "How…"

"I'll take care of it," Beckett assured him simply. She kissed him, that time making it very simple and gentle as her hand around him stuck to one rhythm. As she watched him after for signs he was close, she soon saw them, and very quickly got up, straddling him before taking him inside of her.

The feel of Beckett wet and tight around him was more than enough, and Castle was clutching a little desperately at the small of her back the second before he started to climax. He thrust against her a bit rapidly, feeling his release entirely through him, that same sharp, rough sensation he'd consistently felt that was then magnified, and he wondered how she wasn't sharing that with him. He had his arms around her, feeling her moving against him, but she wasn't orgasming along with him. He found that incredibly erotic, but he wasn't able to tell her as he was too lost to his pleasure. But finally he had calmed down, and opening his eyes to look at her, he saw she was watching him with a slight smile on her face. "Kate, you're too good," he groaned as she pressed her cheek to his.

"I hope so, I only give what I take," Beckett said, smiling when he moved back to look at her. "Let's get out of here, my skin is still wrinkled."

Nodding, Castle helped her get up off him, watching her carefully so she wouldn't slip. He was first to hop out of the tub, grabbing her towel and drying her off the second she was out. He couldn't help rub between her legs a little playfully, just barely brushing the towel against her swollen nub, knowing she was heavily aroused as the briefest touch made her lean a little towards him. Finally he had her dry, and before he could tell her to go out to the bed before she got cold, she was rubbing him off with his towel.

Beckett couldn't help the smile playing at the edge of her lips as she was very meticulous in her action, making sure every inch of him was thoroughly dried before handing him the towel. And without a word she went out into the bedroom, ditching the towel she'd wrapped around herself close to the bed. She started the fire, feeling her husband's eyes as he gazed at her, following her every move. The heat couldn't compete with what she felt as Castle came up behind her, pulling her against him, making her feel his rising arousal. Biting her lower lip, she turned and said, "So are you feeling up to it?"

"I might be," Castle teased her a little. "But the question is what do you want?"

"I want you," Beckett said simply. "And I want us to fuck Rick," staring intently into his eyes.

His desire for her at such a point where he didn't even flinch at that, Castle hurried to wrap his arm around her side before pulling her the rest of the way to the bed. Instead of getting her on it first, he went instead and lay back, seeing the slightly pleased look on his wife's face as she was quick to follow him once he was still.

Straddling him again, Beckett could feel his knees behind her bending, and she reached down to take him in hand, his full erection not surprising her in the least. With a little help from him, they were soon coupled tightly together, and she groaned slightly in pleasure before she started to move on him. She rocked her hips back and forth at first; loving the fact that Castle was very quick to move in time with her. She closed her eyes tightly at the sensation of their hips almost rolling together before she pulled back, and she leaned down to rest her hands on his chest. She played a little with his nipples once she felt steady in her pace, and watched the pleasure shoot across his face at her every touch. She had to wonder if she did that as well, but knew it was more than likely because it was an intense sensation, the rapid thrill that turned into heat for her. She was feeling it frequently, and suddenly she needed him badly, so she pushed herself up and down on him, getting his attention quickly.

Castle held onto his wife's waist tightly, feeling her, and he was quick to move in time with her, their hips smacking into each other. He was grunting with every move she made down on him and he felt the same she did, though for him it was like a shockwave of electricity that zipped through his body as it sought out every inch of it for him to feel. He slid one of his hands to the small of her back, clutching it a little tightly as the other he let slide up to her breasts. Playing with them a little, he was careful to make sure she was okay with his touch as he didn't want to be too rough. When he didn't really get a reaction from her, he was soon bringing his other hand to help, and he cupped her mounds before she was leaning over a little, putting them into his hands more as he proceeded to fondle her; still careful.

Breathing hard, Beckett watched her husband as he started at her chest, making her quickly realize what he wanted to do. She wasn't surprised he wasn't trying to move, so she decided to give him the permission she knew he'd love to hear, and pulled him by his hands until he got the message and got up himself. As soon as he was sitting up she stopped him from kissing her, telling him, "You don't have to worry, I like you wanting to be close… it means…" She was cut off by her own gasp of pleasure as Castle's hands held her a little closer to him, and she hurriedly continued saying, "Means you want me."

"Fuck my love," Castle started to say before he paused. "I married you because of that," he said, unable to translate in time before he just said it. "Because I want you, and need you… _I need you because you are you_ ," he was finally able to say in Irish. " _You are my love_." He was more than a little pleased at her reaction to that as she sped up a bit on him, and he was able to finally move down to her breasts, taking them eagerly with his mouth as he'd been wanting to for a while.

Holding the back of her husband's head, Beckett watched as he suckled at her right nipple, his other hand coming up to lightly fondle her other breast. She was trying to move still, trying to make sure they were moving together at the same pace, but it became a little hard. She could feel the slight sheen of sweat that had appeared on her body because of her exertions, and the heat of it was so much so that she didn't even feel the fire that was at her back. She leaned down to Castle as he pulled away from her chest, and kissed him slowly at first. But both of them didn't let that last for too long, and she was very quickly almost fighting her husband's tongue in her mouth.

When they had pulled away, Castle slid his hands down from where they'd been grasping the small of her back to her ass, watching her reaction to it as she rose a little higher against him that time. Her slamming onto his groin made him groan heavily in response, but neither of them even paused as they kept moving more roughly. He felt the moist silkiness of Beckett's skin, and he leaned up a little, sucking at her pulse for what felt like a few seconds; he couldn't know. Pulling back he then proceeded to nuzzle that same spot with his lips, feeling her moaning through her skin. He moved up to her lips and as they crushed each other they lost their rhythm for a long while, neither of them hearing the awkward slap that doubled in some places while they just moved towards each other as they wanted to, not letting themselves be dictated by a set pace.

Beckett was a little unaware that so much time by then had passed that it was the next day; all she knew was what was building up continuously within her body. She was grasping at Castle almost desperately, feeling the way he was holding her in turn. She kissed him as well, very quickly as they were too fast to try and do much more than that, but what she felt in the touch of his lips was more than enough for the time being. She wasn't really surprised when she could feel something inside her snap as she subconsciously moved her hips, angling them a little differently before hitting her clit against him. The second time that happened she was fully in her orgasm, her nails digging a little into his back as she cried out his name once in her ecstasy.

Feeling his wife, that time getting off, Castle didn't try to really stop himself from joining her, enjoying the sensation of it greatly. His climax was rough and made his body movements a little forceful and jerky, though Beckett seemed to like it as she was suddenly reaching another peak shortly after her first one had ceased. He was quick to follow, also unable to help it then too, but he wasn't going to complain, as he was feeling the same deep pleasure she did as well. He moved with her all the way up until she stopped, and he finished off with a last rough thrust up inside her before he slumped back on the bed, breathing heavily with her. "Wow, you're really not losing your appetite love," he commented after quite some time had passed and he was able to speak.

"Neither are you," Beckett teased him. She smiled as he ran his fingers through her hair and sat up. "I'm a little thirsty," she told him as he tried to stop her.

"I'll get some water," Castle said quickly before he went to get his pajamas. As Beckett settled back on the bed he went to her, kissing her once he was dressed as passionately as he could.

When they'd managed to break apart, Beckett watched her husband leave with a slight smile on her face as he was struggling a little with the sleeve of his robe. Her smile widened for a moment as the satiety from their lovemaking hit her but she soon became serious as her hand pressed to her abdomen and got up, getting her pajamas.

When he'd come up to the second floor from the kitchen, Castle was surprised to see the light in the baby's room on though the door was closed. But as he walked to it, he soon realized why that was, and he slipped inside, setting the glass of water he'd gotten on the longer dresser. "Hey love," he said to his wife, who was standing at the crib in front of one of the windows in the room.

"I'm still having a hard time every once in a while to believe this," Beckett said, touching the mobile that Castle had gotten, of different sea animals. She sent a whale spinning slightly and said, "In about four months-"

"Our baby will be here," Castle finished. "Watching us watch it most likely."

Smiling at that, Beckett took her husband's hand then and led him to the door saying, "It's a long time."

"It is," Castle said in complete agreement as she took the glass from the dresser and they left the room. As soon as they were back in their bedroom he closed and locked the door again while his wife walked ahead of him. "I can't wait."

"Me too, but," Beckett told him as she walked up to him. "We have time now…"

"All the time in the world," Castle said quickly as he wrapped his arms around her once hers went about his neck.

Kissing each other deeply, Beckett and Castle made their way back to the bed, their pajamas meeting the floor on the way. Their lovemaking was very tender as they took their time since they wanted to feel that the best they possibly could as they couldn't seem to get enough of one another as indefatigably happened when they were together.


	25. So Much More

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Can't Stop Thinking about You by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

"Morning love," broke through Beckett's sleep, and she sighed deeply as she turned onto her back. Blinking her eyes she looked up and was able to see her husband with their daughter, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. "Morning," she said, smiling at them. She then frowned and groaned in frustration as she pushed herself up, remembering it was the thirty-first of March. "Happy Birthday Rick," she told him with a sigh as he propped up her pillows behind her. "I was going to wake up early and get you breakfast in bed…"

"That's alright, maybe my birthday next year," Castle reassured her, kissing the back of her hand. "Or Father's Day if you're not too tired," he commented as he pressed his hand to her abdomen. Though since Beckett was nearly nine months by then, the baby wasn't kicking so much, but he still rested it there. "Okay?" he asked, studying her closely.

"Tired," Beckett said simply with a shorter sigh. She smiled then as Julia came over to her around from the other side of the bed, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Hmm, morning sweetie. Am I up late? You're all ready for school," she asked.

"No, I told Daddy to get me ready so you won't have to worry," Julia said. "But can you brush my hair still?" she asked with a wide smile as her mother stroked her sleep tousled hair.

"Of course," Beckett said. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand, and then said, "Let's eat breakfast first, and then I'll do your hair while your daddy and I finish our book."

"You're done?" Julia asked, looking at both her parents with wide eyes.

"We will be," Castle said. "Just a few more paragraphs and we'll be set." He helped Julia off the bed before moving for his wife. "Good?" he asked.

"It's not as easy as it used to be, but I can still get up," Beckett said. Pushing herself up, she sighed as she stood, putting her hands to the small of her back. She smiled as her husband's face was a mask of concern and said, "I'm fine, really."

"I know," Castle said quickly. "Just want to make sure." He leaned over and kissed her then, but kept it quick before telling her, "We'll get breakfast ready while you're getting dressed."

"Father's Day if I can," Beckett said, smiling as Castle did so to her. When the two had left, she went to the closet, rubbing the lower curve of her abdomen, yawning as she felt like she'd barely gotten any sleep though she'd been trying to get back some kind of energy to get through the day.

"Julia," Castle said, looking over at his daughter as she was leaning against the shelf in the division between the kitchen and the breakfast nook. "Sweetheart," he said a little louder.

"Oh, do I set the table?" Julia asked, looking up from her book. When her father nodded, she tucked her bookmark between the pages she was on, and then started to try and sneak it to the table.

"Sweetie," Beckett said as she walked down the hall in time to catch her.

"Sorry," Julia said with a sigh before she went to set it back on the shelf. Hurrying to get the forks and napkins, she glanced at her mother, who was leaning against the island, hoping she was okay as her father turned back to her.

"I made your omelet the way you like it," Castle told her as he was putting it onto her plate. "Not hungry?" he asked as he saw her make a face.

"Not really," Beckett said. "I'll try and eat some though," she promised before she took the plate. Sitting with Julia at the table, she smiled as the little girl laid her napkin on her lap and folded her hands together on top of the table. "You're growing up Julia," she couldn't help say, brushing her fingers over her daughter's cheek.

"I'm still little," Julia said quickly.

"But now you're six," Castle said, coming over with his omelet and hers. As he sat at the table he remembered Julia's birthday they'd celebrated on the fifteenth, since her birthday was on a Tuesday that year. Since Beckett didn't have all that much energy they'd had Mari over to spend the night from Saturday to Sunday, letting them "camp" in the living room with a tent he had. The two girls had spent a long time watching movies on her tablet until they were asleep, and on Sunday his mother, Alexis and Beckett's dad had come to spend the day with them. The Fosters and also their Precinct family had come over as well, which had been a lot of fun as they hadn't been able to see the latter since Christmas.

Beckett was recalling that day as well at the same time as he was at the reminder that their daughter was six. She remembered spending the day with Lanie and Rebecca, and she suddenly sighed in obvious relief; not realizing she had done so loudly until her husband and Julia looked at her in surprise. "Sorry," she said, laughing slightly. "I was thinking about managing to convince Lanie not to have the baby shower. Such a relief," she groaned as she rubbed her face slightly.

"I was a little surprised you managed to," Castle said. "But why don't you want to do that?"

"I've been to a few baby showers, and… I just can't see myself doing what you're supposed to during them," Beckett said, shaking her head. "Oohing and aahing at the gifts… and really, we don't need said gifts," she said with a shrug. "We've gotten everything we needed, and people have sent a baby gift along with our wedding gifts. So… I just want people to come and see the baby, not a shower."

"You're lucky Lanie understood," Castle told her.

"She knew how I felt already, the last baby shower I went to was for a mutual friend of ours," Beckett explained. "So she wasn't too surprised I asked. I was surprised that Rebecca backed me up; apparently she hadn't wanted a shower, but her mother insisted on it."

"Do you need to have a shower?" Julia asked.

"We don't," Beckett said firmly, looking down at her omelet then. She pushed around the piece she'd cut off it with her fork put didn't pick it up as her husband spoke.

"I was remembering that day when you talked to Lanie too," Castle said.

"When we had my little party?" Julia said with a smile. When her father nodded she giggled saying, "That was fun."

"Next year we'll do something better," Beckett told her.

"But I liked what we did," Julia said. She then pursed her lips together a little and said, "Can we go riding if there's no snow still?"

"We'll see how the weather is," Beckett replied, since the little girl had been able to start her riding lessons a week before as the weather had warmed up slightly. She hadn't been too surprised; neither had Castle; that their daughter took quickly to it, and one of their birthday gifts to her had been a pair of equestrian boots that she had absolutely adored. She'd loved her other gifts as well though she'd worn her boots through the rest of her birthday. "But that would be nice, I want to ride again, badly," she said, looking down at her abdomen. "I feel like I haven't moved at more than a snail's pace for months."

"The baby will thank you for that I'm sure," Castle said, reaching over to take her hand as she put her fork down. "You don't want to eat any more?" he asked as she hadn't taken another bite of her omelet.

"Not really," Beckett said. "Save it for my lunch, I might be hungry then."

Castle nodded and as he stood up he leaned over, kissing his wife's temple before he took her plate to the kitchen. He smiled as Julia immediately jumped up to help him, taking her own plate and glass to him at the sink. "Thank you sweetie, I can get everything else," he told her before he leaned down to share a kiss with her. "Go brush your teeth and get your backpack. And get your brush too," he called as she started to run down the hall.

"And don't run!" Beckett called, shaking her head as Julia slid to a stop; which was why she had run so she could do that. She stood up then as Castle was coming back to her and she sighed as she told him, "I might take a nap while you take her to school. I couldn't get comfortable last night… at all."

"I know, you were tossing and turning for a while," Castle commented, getting the rest of the items off the table. "But you did sleep right?"

"I did, but for how long is anyone's guess," Beckett said with a shrug. "We'll meet you in the office," she told him then, tugging on the collar of his shirt to bring him down to her. She kissed him deeply before she pulled back, smiling when he seemed frozen in place. "Wake up love," she told him.

"Yeah, I'm up," Castle said quickly. He watched his wife walk to the office then, and once she was out of sight, he shook himself, going to the sink to wash everything up.

"Mommy?" Julia asked when she walked into the office to find her mother leaning back against the couch, her eyes closed. "Are you sleeping?" she was whispering, inching up close to her.

"No, just resting," Becket said, smiling as she watched Julia place her hand flat on her stomach. She couldn't help it and she cupped her daughter's face in her hands before leaning down to share a kiss with her.

When she pulled back Julia was a little worried when she saw the tears on her mother's cheeks and said, "What's wrong Mommy?"

"I'm fine," Beckett said hurriedly, trying to stop crying but unable to; as she'd found herself doing more and more through her pregnancy. "I just was thinking I'm so lucky to have to you sweetie."

"We both are," Castle said, handing her his handkerchief then so she could dry her eyes. "Good love?" he asked his wife, watching her.

"Yeah, just my hormones again," Beckett said. "That's one thing I won't miss; being a faucet for salt water," she commented, shaking her head. "So where are we?"

"We are with Moor and Green at the bar, the Bantry Bay," Castle said. " _Tapping their glasses together_ ," he read for his wife to remind her. " _Moor and Green downed their shots before he called for another, watching as Green turned her glass upside down._ We were going to have a conversation there."

"Just a comment on how they work well together, since it's their first time," Beckett reminded him then, brushing Julia's hair.

"Alright," Castle said. "Looking at her new partner of three days, Green told him, 'So it looks like we're set.' 'I guess we are,' Moor replied. 'Though you didn't really need to threaten him with your gun; I guess you and I are both unorthodox.'"

"What's that mean?" Julia asked.

"It means you don't do things like other people do," Beckett replied. She then said to her husband, "Green's reply was simple and quick, 'I think you're a bad influence on a good cop.' Moor shot a glare at her, but all she did in response was smile benignly at him, getting off her stool to throw on her jacket."

"'Hot date tonight?' Moor asked, watching her closely," Castle picked up, typing furiously. "'No, girl's night now we've got this done,' Green replied, nodding to the shot that had been refilled in front of her partner. 'Sky and I are going out to the Egyptian, a series of old silent movies; like we watched when we were kids.'"

"And so we come to the end," Beckett said with a slight sigh as he paused and she had a hard time thinking of what might happen next. "Are your endings difficult to get?"

"Hmm, very, unless I've thought about them in advance; like _Storm Fall_ and _Hamptons Heat_ ," Castle said. "Something about the very end of a series makes it easier. How about adding Green saying, 'Night Moor, if you drink yourself under the bar I'll have O'Day and Garcia pick you up if we catch a case,'" he told Beckett, putting emphasis on the word case as he was actually writing body; not wanting Julia to hear that.

"'Thanks for looking after me Georgie, you're the best,' Moor said sarcastically. When she just rolled her eyes as her cheeks slightly flushed; in anger he knew from years of experience; he murmured a goodnight before watching her leave. Turning back to the bar, he picked up his shot glass…" Beckett told him quickly. She thought for a moment about how to word that and then quickly got the very ending of their first book. "He raised it to the bartender, the muted light turning the amber liquid golden as he told the man, 'To partners.' The glass slammed on the bar, upside down next to its pair as the upside down image of Moor followed the same path as Green; walking into the night that made his distorted figure in the glass vanish."

"Perfect," Castle said as he hurriedly typed that and then saved the document. He let out a little sound of exhilaration before going over to the love seat he'd bought for his wife to sit on when the desk chair had become too uncomfortable. He pulled her up and said, "Kate, we've just written our first book together."

Smiling at the enthusiasm on his face and in the tone of his voice, Beckett wrapped her arms around her husband tightly before he kissed her. Since Julia was still with them, it was very simple, but no less meaningful; as she'd urged him to hurry with their writing as her fears of writing well had pressed her to get it done. But since it was over, she felt a heavy sense of relief and she smiled at Castle when they pulled away from one another and she asked him, "We don't have to write another one for a while right?"

"We'll have a break before we try to get our next book ready," he assured her.

"I'm so happy for you Mommy, Daddy," Julia said, hurrying to them and wrapping her arms around them as tightly as she could. "I hope Alexis will like the book," she said.

"And Martha, and my dad," Beckett said. "Send it to them tonight," she told her husband as Julia let go of them to go look at the computer screen to see the words they'd been saying there. She turned to Castle and hugged him tightly again, feeling him responding quickly before she suddenly let out a groan of pain, staggering against him as something in her abdomen clenched tightly.

"Kate?" Castle asked, watching her. When she reached down to her stomach he quickly helped her sit back down on the couch and looked at his watch as Julia rushed to him, clutching at his arm while he was holding his wife's hand.

"Yeah, I think that's it," Beckett said, breathing deeply and watching him timing with his watch.

"What's wrong?" Julia asked, her voice nearly high pitched as she watched them with wide eyes.

"The baby might be coming," Castle said in a calm tone. "She'll be okay," he said quickly as the little girl whimpered suddenly and he and Beckett looked to her.

"It's gonna hurt you Mommy," Julia whispered, tears on her cheeks.

"Come here," Beckett said, holding her other arm out to her. She smiled a little when the little girl rushed around Castle to climb up next to her, and she held her close as she breathed in and out as she'd learned in the Lamaze classes she and her husband had attended. She wasn't sure how long it took, but as another pain gripped her and she squeezed Castle's hand tightly, she hoped it wasn't less than five minutes.

"Eighteen minutes," he told her simply. "Do you want to go now, or wait?"

"Now, if my water breaks here?" Beckett asked with a slight laugh as the pain was eking away slowly.

"Okay, Julia, you remember what we told you," Castle said, getting his phone as Beckett let go of his hand. "Go straight to the Foster's home, don't run, but make sure you hurry," he told her seriously.

"I'll see you later sweetie, I promise," Beckett said, kissing and hugging their daughter tightly. "I love you so much."

"I love you Mommy, and the baby," Julia said, trying to be brave as she shared a kiss with her mother before getting down. "And you Daddy," she said, throwing her arms around him.

"We'll be alright," Castle assured her before he kissed her too and then left the office in a rush. He called Rebecca's number, since he knew David would have headed into their office already, and put it to speaker.

"Hey Rick, the baby's coming?" Rebecca asked as soon as she'd picked up.

"Julia's heading to your house," Beckett called out to her.

"Alright, I'll take her to the hospital and call the school," Rebecca told them both. "Good luck."

"Thanks Rebecca," Castle said simply before he hung up the phone. "Let's go love," he told his wife after he quickly sent a text to a group he'd made earlier in the week. He then checked his watch and said, "Want to wait for the next one?" seeing it was nearly the seventeen minute mark.

"No, get me to the hospital now," Beckett replied as she made him help her up. She just managed to reach his car; which he'd taken to parking outside to be ready to go since two days before when her doctor had confirmed that Beckett herself had been right and the baby was turning; previous to her next contraction starting and she had to wonder which had been worse, getting shot in the heart, or going through that pain centered in her womb. She decided not to bother to figure it out at that moment, and was relieved to find that she and Castle were on their way when she'd recovered. "I'm really glad you're pretty calm," she couldn't help telling her husband.

"I can't help if I'm in a panic," Castle said simply as he turned down a street. "You're doing pretty well."

"We'll see what happens when I actually start pushing," Beckett said. "Did you hear from them yet?"

"I just got about three messages, I'll check once you're settled in your room," Castle replied. The hospital was only five minutes away from their home, so he was soon pulling up to it, hurrying outside and calling to the nurse coming up to them with a wheelchair, "My wife is in labor."

"He would have known once I stepped out," Beckett couldn't help tease her husband as he helped her out. Sitting back in the wheelchair, she squeezed his hand tightly as they went inside, and she found herself having another contraction as they were able to finally make their way to the fifth floor, going into the maternity ward.

"Her first and second contractions were eighteen minutes apart, this last one was at about sixteen and a half minutes," Castle was telling another nurse who had run to them.

"Alright, ma'am," the nurse said, leading the way to a room. "I'll have your husband get you changed, and-"

As Castle was helping Beckett up from the chair, her water suddenly broke and she leaned against him, groaning at the shock of it. "You have that gown?" he asked the nurse.

"Yeah, I'll go ahead and get Dr. Hargrove," the woman said quickly before handing the white fabric in her hand to him.

"See? Didn't want that happening at home," Beckett said with a sigh. "I just hope this doesn't take a long time. How long did it take for Alexis to be born?"

"Ten hours," Castle said as he helped Beckett get undressed. At her loud, deep breath in reaction to the number he brushed his lips against hers gently saying, "I'll be right here the whole time with you Kate."

"Not once you get me in the bed," Beckett told him. When her husband looked at her in surprise she smiled as they walked to the bed and she told him, "The car."

"How can you think of the car at a time like this?" Castle couldn't help laugh as he helped her up after raising the back of the bed.

"I just did," Beckett said. "Give me your phone," she told him before he could leave.

"Right, I will be back," Castle said, brushing his lips across hers again as he handed her his phone.

Taking that kiss gratefully, Beckett watched him go and she leaned back, about to look at the texts he had received when the phone suddenly started to ring, her dad's name on the screen.

"Katie," Jim said in surprise as he had expected his son in law to answer. "Are you alright?"

"I'm… hold on Dad, I'm at the hospital, they're coming in with some equipment," Beckett said quickly, seeing her husband coming in right after the nurses. "My dad," she told him as she handed him the phone.

"Jim? Yeah, she's doing alright," Castle said before he had to pull the phone away from his ear as the nurse that had brought them to the room was talking to his wife.

"Dr. Hargrove is currently in an appointment, but she's wrapping it up so she'll be in momentarily," the nurse said. "She instructed me to check you, see how far you've dilated."

Beckett wasn't surprised when Castle rushed to her side to take her hand and seeing the phone in his other hand asked, "Is he still on?"

"Oh, sorry," Castle said, startled to remember he'd been on the phone. "Jim-"

"Call me back when things have settled down," Beckett's father said quickly. "And tell Katie I'm on my way to get Martha and Alexis."

"Right, bye," Castle said before he hung up. "He's leaving right now," he told his wife. "Is he still planning to stay with us?"

"He is," Beckett said rapidly as the nurse was writing something on a clipboard.

"Only around two inches," the woman told them. When Beckett suddenly groaned through her gritted teeth, she looked at the machine monitoring her contractions and nodded when it eventually subsided. "Would you like an epidural?"

"Please," Beckett replied, nodding. When they were left alone in the room she breathed out saying, "I was trying to figure out earlier which was worse, these contractions or getting shot."

"I hate to ask if you've decided on that," Castle said, getting a chair to pull up next to the bed for when he wanted to sit.

"I passed out after the shot, this…" Beckett said, putting her hand on her abdomen. "I'd say this is worse, but with a much better end result. So you got messages but I didn't have a chance to look at them since my dad called."

"Yeah, should call him back first…" Castle started to say before his phone was ringing. "It's, wait, Rebecca sent a message while we were on our way here, Julia's there."

"Good, who's calling?" Beckett said, smiling at that.

"Alexis," Castle said. "Hey kiddo," he answered, putting the phone on speaker.

"Dad, are you at the hospital?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah, where are you?" Castle asked.

"Waiting for Jim and Gram, they're going to pick me up," Alexis said. "How's Kate?"

"I'm fine, relatively speaking," Beckett told her.

"Oh, then good luck," Alexis said. "I really hope it doesn't take too long."

"We'll see," Beckett commented. When Castle's daughter had hung up she said, "I'd like them to come in to see me if they have a chance."

"Julia too? She might be a little scared…" Castle started to reply to that when he saw the next contraction hitting his wife. He held her hand tightly as he murmured the breathing pattern she'd taken, to make sure she tried to keep to it, until she was slowly relaxing. "Should I see about getting you the epidural?"

"Too soon," Beckett said with a slight smile. She sighed and said, "The texts?"

"Right," Castle said quickly before he went back to his phone. "First one we got was from Lanie, _Tell Kate good luck, will try and get out later today or tomorrow to see the baby, let me know when it's here_ ," he read. "Multiple exclamation points on that one."

Laughing softly Beckett said, "I expected that. I wonder if the boys will come now or wait until we're back home."

"The next message is from Rebecca; so Lanie was pretty quick," Castle said. "The one after is from Ryan, they have a case so they're going to try and come out when they can, but probably won't today. And he says he'll be bringing Jenny."

"Yeah," Beckett said, shifting on the bed a little. "If knowing I was pregnant at the wedding didn't make her want a baby herself, seeing ours will definitely push her into overdrive to get everything set for them to start trying."

"They're nearly set aren't they?" Castle asked, sitting down then as he quickly answered the two texts and then put his phone in his pocket.

"They are," Beckett said, looking around the room. "So ten hours," she said before looking at her husband.

"Each pregnancy is different," Castle reminded her quickly.

"I know, I'm just hoping I'm not going to end up going past that," Beckett said. "But what we were talking about earlier, I do want to see Julia before I go into full labor," she told him.

"She'll be scared, especially if it's later and your contractions are closer together; and you haven't had the epidural yet," Castle warned her.

"Then have Alexis come in with her," Beckett said simply. "She'll feel better with her big sister here."

"Okay," Castle said before his phone rang. "Mother," he said in greeting. "I'm hoping you're on the way?"

"I am, am I on speaker?" Martha asked. When Castle told her yes she quickly said, "Kate, remember to breathe evenly and deeply, just like we practiced together, and if you need to break my son's hand, feel free to do that."

"Hey," Castle protested jokingly as Beckett laughed behind her hand. "I need that hand to help me type. Oh, really quickly, let Jim and Alexis know we finished our first book. And Julia is at the Fosters, so pick her up there."

"Alright, is she having a contraction?" Martha asked as her son's voice was clipped and in a rush.

"She is," Castle told her, standing then and holding Beckett's hand with his free one. When his mother said a quick goodbye before hanging up he put his phone back in his pocket, covering his wife's hand with that one, watching her as she finally relaxed. "Good?" he asked her.

"Now, yes," Beckett said before he let go of her. She watched him go into the bathroom that was attached to the room, and smiled when he came out with a washcloth. "Already? I thought I'd be pushing before it came to that," she told him.

"Do you feel warm?" Castle asked. When she nodded he then said, "Ice chips?"

"No, I'm good," Beckett assured him. When he set aside the washcloth she took his hand, entwining their fingers. "I really want to see her."

"They'll be here soon," Castle assured her as he knew she was talking about Julia. He studied her face then and asked, "What is it?"

"I wish she was here…" Beckett said, cursing her tears as she seemed to instantly start to cry though she had no control over that.

"Would you want her here with us while you're actually having the baby?" Castle asked.

Thinking for a moment as he handed her another handkerchief; not sure how he'd managed to get a second one into his pocket; Beckett said, "No, but… I just want her here to see her second grandchild; her first biological grandchild. There is something momentous in that."

"There is," Castle said. "And what's great about your dad is that I know he'll love Julia and this one both equally."

"My mom would have too," Beckett told him with a small smile as she finally managed to stop crying. She watched as her husband pressed his hand to her abdomen, low as they both knew the baby's head was there. Reaching down she covered his hand with her own as he squeezed gently before he was leaning down to kiss her sweetly, gently on the lips.

* * *

"Are you ready Jules?" Alexis asked her sister, squeezing her little hand in her own.

"Yeah, is the baby gonna be born while we're there?" Julia asked, looking a little pale.

"No, they wouldn't let us in if your mom was that close to having the baby," Alexis assured her. She stood in the doorway until her dad and Beckett turned to them and said, "Someone's wanted to see you."

"Mommy," Julia breathed out, hurrying to the side of the bed. She grew concerned when she saw her mother's face was a little strained, but when Beckett took her hand and gripped it tightly she smiled, feeling a little better about how she was doing. "Are you kay?" she asked.

"I'm doing fine," Beckett murmured, nodding to Castle who picked her up. She leaned up as their daughter leaned over in his arms, sharing a kiss with her before telling her, "It shouldn't be too much longer now until your brother or sister is here."

"Kay, I hope so," Julia said. "Will I see it after?"

"You will," Beckett assured her. "For now stay with everyone in the waiting room and don't worry about me, your daddy is watching me closely, so are the doctors and nurses."

"So things are okay?" Alexis asked, unsure of what else to say as she took her sister from her dad.

"Well, except for the fact this has been going on for hours," Beckett said simply. "But besides that, I'm doing well according to my doctor. Take care of her?" she asked, nodding to Julia.

"Oh of course," Alexis said firmly.

"Can 'lexis come and see the baby too?" Julia asked. "After?"

"She will, since it'll be her brother or sister too," Castle said, studying his wife closely as she turned her head away from him. "Okay, why don't you let your gram come in? That way Jim can say hello too?" When the two had left he squeezed Beckett's hand saying, "They're getting much closer."

"More intense too," Beckett sighed. "Luckily the epidural is doing its job." She then turned to the door and smiled saying, "Hi Martha."

"Oh Kate, you look… Richard, give me that washcloth," Castle's mother nearly snapped at the end to her son.

Smiling a little wider as her mother in law brushed her forehead with the damp cloth, Beckett said, "Thank you, I'm okay. I just had a contraction."

"Still, it comforted me to have that when I was in the same situation," Martha said simply. "But you're close?"

"Closer, my doctor is going to come in once my dad leaves to check on me," Beckett said.

"You're a brave woman Kate, you'll do very well I'm sure," Martha said. "And again, my son's hand is there for support."

"As opposed to just me," Castle said, amusement in his voice though he'd tried to sound annoyed.

"You too," Martha said, relieved when Beckett laughed a little. "Better to laugh than to scream," she told her. At the perplexed expressions she got, she explained, "The nurse assisting when I was in labor said that, and while I was pushing it didn't work beforehand it was a big help."

"He's been keeping my mind off the contractions," Beckett told her. "When he can of course."

"Of course," Martha agreed. "I'm going to go, let your father come in, but know we're anxiously awaiting the new arrival," she told her, squeezing her hands in her own.

"I know, thank you Martha," Beckett said, watching her go. "I didn't expect her to be so concerned," she told her husband when they were alone.

"Probably because she can sympathize with you," Castle said. "And is worried too, for you both."

Nodding, Beckett saw some movement in the doorway and looking over; smiling as she saw it was her father. "Dad, come in," she said, seeing he too looked troubled.

Going over to the other side of the bed, Jim took his daughter's hand, holding it tightly as he said, "I know you're probably getting asked this constantly, but are you doing alright?"

"I'm okay Dad," Beckett assured him, not too surprised at the question.

"Any idea how much longer?" Jim asked.

"Not really, but she's getting closer the doctor tells us," Castle said. "You want me to get you some more ice chips?"

"They're not that melted," Beckett said, knowing he wanted to give them some privacy but not really needing him to do that. "Keep an eye on Julia," she told her dad. "I think she's a little scared now she's seen me."

"We will, we're trying our best to keep her busy," Jim assured her. He then squeezed her hand and told her, "Your mother would be so proud of you Katie, as am I."

"I still have a little ways to go, but thank you," Beckett replied with a slight smile. "I love you Dad," she said, knowing she was nearing another contraction and not wanting him there.

Leaning over, Jim kissed the top of his daughter's head and said, "Good luck," talking to Castle as well. When his son in law nodded to him he went to the door and then heard Beckett groaning. Turning he saw that she was sitting up, bracing her body as her husband was urging her to groan as he had one arm around her, holding her hand tightly. He left then as his daughter's doctor came over and he went back into the waiting room, seeing Martha was waiting for him.

"How is she?" she asked in concern.

"She was having a contraction when I was leaving," Jim said, not realizing her worry was for him as he looked a little shocked. "She looked to be in pain still…"

"It's likely she was uncomfortable," Martha assured him. "She'll be fine, she's very strong."

"Right," Jim said, shaking himself. He then briefly smiled as he told her, "Your son was helping her though."

"He's concerned too, but deep down," Martha said. "We-" she started to say before she looked and saw their granddaughter was staring at them. "Well Julia, what would you like to do now since you're finished with your picture for your mother?" she said, nodding to Jim so they could focus their attention on her.

Back inside the room, Beckett looked at Castle and said, "Didn't need her to tell me that."

"You can feel it?" he asked her.

"Pretty much," Beckett said, not realizing she had a determined look on her face as her doctor told her she was nearly at the last stage of labor. When she was suddenly kissed on the lips she looked at her husband in a little surprise asking, "Why?"

"Because you're beautiful love, and stronger than I am," Castle said. "I'd be weeping like a baby if I was in your position."

"Apropos," Beckett said wryly before she then became serious. "I still have some trepidation about this though."

"Of course, but you're not alone and we'll all be helping you; even me, the one without any kind of medical degree," Castle said, hoping to get her to at least smile. When she laughed a little he was pleased and he leaned down, kissing her again as he couldn't help it. Taking her lips gently, he slipped his tongue into her mouth to briefly brush together with hers before slowly pulling away to rest his forehead against hers. "I love you Kate," he told her seriously.

"I love you too Rick," Beckett said in the same tone, squeezing his hand that still had hers, feeling his support in that simple touch which she knew she was going to need and which he would willingly give to her without hesitation.

* * *

Going back to the bed some time later, Castle glanced at the doctor and nurses before he turned his attention to his wife. "How're you feeling love?" he asked her, brushing her still damp hair back from her forehead.

"Sore," Beckett said, opening her eyes then as she squeezed his hand at the same time. "Very sore and exhausted, but I'm doing a lot better than before."

"You did a great job," Castle said, squeezing her hand tightly looking over again.

"It sounds like I did," Beckett said, following his gaze. "Good set of lungs," she commented as their baby's cries were a little shrill still.

"I know," Castle said, laughing slightly. He was going to say something else when the doctor turned to them, their baby in her arms.

"Congratulations," Dr. Hargrove told them as she settled the baby in its mother's arms. "A very healthy baby, at six pounds and fourteen ounces." She smiled as Beckett was staring at the baby, and Castle was leaning over the bed doing the same thing.

Not even aware that the doctor and nurses had left, Beckett whispered, "Oh Rick, she's beautiful."

"She is," Castle said a bit tearfully, reaching down to brush the back of his finger against their daughter's cheek. "Look at this hair," he said in slight amusement while he touched some of the dark hair already at the top of the baby's head.

"That she got from you," Beckett said, laughing softly.

"Was it worth it?" Castle asked suddenly.

Looking up at him, Beckett said simply, "It was," before she touched his cheek and he leaned down to kiss her. When they parted, she looked down at their daughter; tears filling her eyes as the baby's eyes were open, staring at them. "Hello sweetie," she whispered, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Should we name her?" she suggested to her husband, looking at him.

"I think that would be a good idea," Castle agreed. "Unless you want to call her sweetie all the time?"

Rolling her eyes though she was still smiling, Beckett said, "I was thinking we could divide her names between us."

"The first and middle?" Castle asked. At her nod he then asked, "Sure, what am I taking?"

"Do you mind the middle name?" Beckett asked. At the rapid shake of his head, she then told him; though she was looking down at the baby; "I've always liked the name Elizabeth. And I know it's common but-"

"No, actually I was thinking of that name too, thinking of what names you might like if we had a girl," Castle told her. "Though it was that and Linda."

"Linda?" Beckett asked since she'd never thought of that name.

"That was a wild card choice," Castle said simply. "But no, I like Elizabeth."

"And her middle name?" Beckett asked as he ran his hand over the baby's head.

"Johanna," Castle said, looking at his wife to see her reaction.

"You… you don't want to use Martha, because-" Beckett started to say though she was incredibly touched; and had thought of using her mother's name beforehand, but was unsure of what her husband would say. At his brush of his lips against hers she was quiet and she said, "Alright, so," as they turned their attention to their daughter. "Elizabeth Johanna Beckett Castle," she said when the baby made a noise as she shifted in her arms within the blanket swaddling her.

"It's a pretty name," Castle said. "Do you think," he then began. "I could hold her?"

Beckett quickly moved to place Elizabeth in his arms after he'd taken the railing on the left side of her bed down. She watched as Castle cradled her while she fixed the edge of the blanket that had pulled out from the rest of it slightly. "A long name though," she said with a smile. "She didn't really need to have mine."

"We already talked about that, so I'm not going to insist she keep it since I know you want her to have it," Castle told her as he sat on the edge of the bed facing his wife. He glanced into Elizabeth's eyes and then looked a little thoughtful as the baby moved again.

"What's wrong?" Beckett asked.

"Her first name is a little long," Castle said. "I think you agree with me don't you?" he asked the baby who was slightly pursing her lips.

"So you want to call her something shorter?" Beckett inquired.

"A nickname," Castle said, knowing she was thinking he wanted to change her name. "What do you think about the name Eliza?"

"If you're asking her I don't think she'll answer," Beckett said in amusement. "But I like it."

"Eliza," Castle repeated to the baby. When she merely shifted slightly in his arms he bent over to kiss her forehead saying, "I love you already little Eliza."

"We should tell them," Beckett said with a smile, feeling a rush of love for her husband and their daughter. "But bring them in two by two."

"The sisters and then the grandparents?" Castle asked as he transferred Eliza back into her mother's arms. In the process one of her arms came loose from the blanket and he took one, kissing the back of her tiny hand before he went to Beckett. Kissing his wife deeply, he allowed himself just enough time to slip his tongue into her mouth to caress hers before pulling back.

"We're not going anywhere," Beckett said with a smile as he was cupping the back of Eliza's head.

"I'm aware of that," Castle commented. He then looked intently into his wife's eyes and said, "I love you, for carrying her, giving birth to her you know."

"I do, and I love you for being her father," Beckett said. She wasn't too taken aback when he kissed her again, but he was much quicker than the previous one, and she smiled to herself, knowing he'd literally had to tear himself away to go. "You're a very lucky little girl Eliza," she whispered to the baby once they were alone.

"Richard, is the baby-" Martha said, the first to see him as he came out into the waiting room.

"The baby is here, and it and Kate are doing fine," Castle said, not surprised at their relieved looks.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Julia asked, tugging on his hand.

"Your mom wants to see you now, and she wants both of you to meet your sibling," Castle said, talking to both Julia and Alexis. "When they come out you two can come in and see them," he told his mother and Jim.

"Why didn't you just tell us what the baby is Dad?" Alexis said as they walked through the door and went to wash their hands.

"Because I want it to be a surprise when you see it," Castle said. "Ready?" At Julia's enthusiastic nod, he led them into the room saying, "See, they're fine."

Walking over to the bed, Julia could see the baby had dark hair, but couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl. "Mommy?" she asked as she looked at her mother and could see she was smiling at her.

"Meet your sister," Beckett said, looking at Julia and then Alexis. "Elizabeth."

"It's a girl!" Julia squeaked out in a whisper.

"She is," Castle said, sharing a smile with his wife and daughter at her reaction.

"And her name is Elizabeth?" Julia then said. When her parents both nodded she said, "That's so pretty."

"What's her full name?" Alexis asked, stepping closer to the bed to see her baby sister.

"Elizabeth Johanna," Castle told her.

"Ooh, Grandpapa will be happy to hear that name and me too," Julia said with a wide smile on her face. "Can I hold the baby?" she asked then.

"Put her on the bed," Beckett said to her husband. Once Julia was sitting on the space next to her she put Eliza in her arms and watched as Castle made sure that she was holding her the right way. "And actually your daddy and I are calling her Eliza," she said.

"I was thinking about calling her Lizzy," Alexis commented as she was leaning over and letting the baby take her index finger. "Like I call her Jules," she told them, nodding to Julia.

"Can I call her that too?" the little girl whispered.

"Definitely, she'll probably call you Jules too when she's older," Alexis pointed out.

"Good," Julia said simply. She looked at the baby, who was just staring at her and she asked, "Does she have Daddy's eyes?"

"We won't know until she gets a little older," Beckett said, since Eliza did have blue eyes, though they were a very deep blue.

"She's so pretty, and tiny," Julia cooed to the baby. "Hi Lizzy, I'm your sister, your middle sister, Alexis is our big sister."

Castle squeezed Beckett's shoulder at that and then said, "Can Alexis hold Eliza now?"

Nodding, Julia then leaned down and pressed a kiss to her sister's forehead before letting Castle take her. As soon as her arms were free, she wrapped her arms tightly around her mother. "Are you kay Mommy?" she asked earnestly, looking up at her.

"I am, tired, but glad that your sister is here," Beckett said before sharing a kiss with her daughter.

"Me too," Julia said as they watched while Castle was giving Eliza to Alexis.

"Jules is right," the young woman said as she stared at her little sister. "She is adorable. And her hair, it's like yours was when you were born Dad."

"I know, very messy," Castle joked. "So now you've got two sisters."

"I know, jackpot," Alexis said, smiling as she heard Julia giggling at that. She then kissed Eliza's forehead before handing her back to Castle. Going over to the bed she squeezed Beckett's hand once and said, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thank you," she said with a nod. "So am I. But you should probably let your grandmother and my dad come in to see Eliza."

"Don't tell them her name or that she's a girl," Castle said as Alexis helped Julia off the bed once the little girl had shared another kiss and a hug with her mother. He was going to give Eliza back to his wife when she stopped him.

"I know your mother will want to see her as soon as she comes in," Beckett said with a smile as she checked to make sure Eliza was okay.

"Is that the baby?" Martha said a few seconds later as she came to the doorway, Jim behind her.

"It is," Castle said, glancing at his wife when his mother rushed to him.

"It's a girl," Beckett said as she saw her husband wasn't going to say yet.

"I knew and she is beautiful," Martha exclaimed as she took the baby's hand.

"What did you name her?" Jim asked, hugging his daughter carefully.

"Elizabeth Johanna," Beckett told her father. "I picked her first name, he picked her middle name," she told him, squeezing his arm.

"It's a lovely name," Martha said, looking at Jim as Castle was doing the same.

"She's right, it is," Jim said with a nod to his son in law. "She'd be honored you chose her name."

"There didn't seem to be another choice that would fit her," Castle said honestly with a slight smile. "But we're calling her Eliza, since Elizabeth is a little big for her."

"Oh, I've always loved that name," Martha said. She studied the baby and nodded telling her, "I think it suits you Eliza, very nicely."

"You can hold her," Beckett said.

Martha was very quick to turn to her son and take Eliza in her arms. Holding the baby close, she studied her closely and with a smile she said, "She looks quite a bit like you did when you were born Richard."

Putting his hand on his mother's back as he could hear the tremor in her voice, Castle said, "It's the hair, I told Kate."

"It does look like yours," Martha said in agreement, managing to keep her tears from falling. "But it will be interesting to see her as she grows old, to see who in the two families she favors."

"We'll have a lot of time for that still," Jim said with a slight smile. He turned to Beckett and asked, "How're you doing Katie?"

"Very well," Beckett reassured him. "Hold her," she then urged.

"I will, I just wanted to check on you," Jim said before he went to Martha, taking his granddaughter in his arms. Looking down at Eliza he couldn't help smiling, though it was slightly bittersweet as he couldn't help think of his wife who he knew would have fallen in love with the baby the second she had seen her; as he had just done himself. He didn't say a word to her as he could tell that the baby was going to fall asleep, instead he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

Taking Eliza, Beckett murmured gently to the baby, a mix of Irish and English that came to mind, and held her as still as possible since she was sleeping.

"We'll go back home now since it's getting late," Martha said in a whisper. "Did you say goodnight to the girls? Julia and Alexis I mean."

"I did," Beckett said, since she'd managed to say goodnight to Julia before.

"I'll go out now," Castle said. "I'll be right back love."

Watching them leave after Martha and her father had hugged her, Beckett turned her attention to the baby, smiling as her tiny head was turned towards her. "I love you so much sweetie," she whispered, brushing the backs of her fingers along Eliza's cheek. "I have already…" She was quiet before she then told her, "You're in a wonderful family you know," not caring that she was talking to an hour old baby that wasn't really going to understand her. "Your daddy, sisters, grandparents, they all love you already. Especially your daddy." She couldn't resist and she pressed her lips to Eliza's forehead again, remembering when she had her in her arms right after she'd been born, the baby's cries heavy. But she had been absolutely beautiful to Beckett, and even then she still was to her as she kissed her again, murmuring an I love you in Irish against her cheek.

"Okay, I love you sweetheart," Castle was telling Julia out in the waiting room as he held her against his hip. "Your mom and I both do you know."

"I know, and I love you Daddy," Julia said simply, a wide smile on her face. She shared a kiss with him and then asked, "Are you gonna stay with Mommy all night?"

"I'm sleeping in the room with her," Castle reassured her. "And Eliza will be okay," he said quickly before the little girl could ask. "We'll come home tomorrow too."

"Kay, I can't wait," Julia said in excitement. She shared another kiss with him, kissing him on the cheek as he set her down saying, "I'm so happy Eliza is here."

"Me too," Castle said, ruffling her hair to her giggle. He then went to Alexis and hugged his older daughter tightly saying, "I love you too Alexis, so you don't think I'm going to focus on Eliza more than you two."

"Oh, don't worry, I knew you wouldn't shut the two of us out," his daughter told him. "But three girls?" she teased her dad slightly.

"That's fine with me," Castle said before she kissed his cheek. "Make sure she's okay," he said, nodding to Julia who was watching them.

"We're going to have a camp out in the family room like she did during her birthday," Alexis said. "But on the couches this time, to celebrate."

Laughing a little, Castle nodded and said good night to her before hugging his mother and shaking his father in law's hand. He waited until they left before he returned to his wife, seeing that she was kissing Eliza's fingers clutching at her finger. "She woke up," he commented, getting his phone out of his pocket.

"She woke up," Beckett replied. "And good idea, we have to text them."

"We do," Castle said, opening his camera on his phone. "Ready?"

"Ready," Beckett said with a smile, waiting for him to get the right angle as he sat next to her. After he took the selfie and showed it to her she commented, "I really wonder what Lanie will say."

"I wonder if she'll come over too," Castle said as he was quick to send out one text to the three. "Tomorrow since it's too late today."

"We'll find out," Beckett said. When she felt him getting on the bed next to her she looked up at him with a smile and took his kiss, not surprised at it. She parted her lips to his searching tongue, curling her own around it for a moment before they pulled away at Eliza's sudden sound that nearly sounded like a coo. She looked down with him at her and leaned against him while he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They remained like that until his phone started to vibrate, and they started to read the messages of congratulations from their friends.

* * *

"Okay love?" Castle asked, coming out of the bathroom dressed in the pajamas he'd packed in the bag he'd brought with them.

"Yeah, I do have to wonder if I'll really be leaving tomorrow," Beckett said. "Even though I know my friends did that, I am sore in so many places I can't imagine walking. But I do want to go home." She lay back as he was folding his clothes to put away and then asked, "What about the carrier?"

"Mother and your dad will bring it with them tomorrow," Castle said. He sat on the bed next to her and took her hand, squeezing it. "This day's been a little…"

"Surreal," Beckett told him with a smile. "I agree, it has been. But the most important thing, we have our baby girl."

"We do," Castle said. He then looked at her seriously and told her, "You outdid your gift to me for my birthday last year you know."

"That's a gift we gave each other," Beckett told him simply, entwining her fingers with his as they were both smiling at one another.

Castle leaned over and kissed her once before he leaned back and then said, "You know it's funny, Alexis was teasing me about having three girls, but I get the feeling she was afraid I was disappointed."

"She and I talked about that," Beckett said simply. When her husband looked at her in surprise she said, "Around Christmas. She had asked you want you wanted and you said you didn't care, but she was concerned having another girl would make you… not frustrated but…"

"No, I understand," Castle said, comprehending how his oldest daughter's mind was working. "And there's a part of me that's not too surprised she was worrying about that," he said with a smile. "But if she sees me with Eliza she'll understand I will love my girls."

"Hmm, she will," Beckett said. She then smiled after they were quiet for a moment saying, "We have a lot of friends."

"Yeah," Castle said, knowing she was remembering calling May and Rebecca and then hearing from Skye as well since they had texted as many of their friends besides the boys and Lanie as they could; the ones whose numbers or e-mail addresses he had on his phone. "We're going to have a lot of visitors, I hope you're ready for that," he told her.

"I am," Beckett said. She then straightened the blanket on her lap and told him, "You know I was a little… on edge at the thought of being a mother to a newborn."

"I had a feeling you might be still," Castle said. "But you'll do great; you've done research, talked to friends, my mother and also your dad which I thought was a good idea. But now you're not worried about that?"

"No," Beckett said with a smile as she shook her head. "I fell in love with Eliza the second I held her, fell in love with her yet again actually. And I want to raise her; with you; to see what our baby will be like," she told him a little seriously.

"Me too. One thing I'm hoping for love," Castle told her. Before he could say anything though, she was pulling him onto the bed, making him watch her as he wasn't sure she'd be okay with that. But he lay down on his side as she did saying, "You're not pressed up against the railing?" looking behind her.

"I'm fine, what were you hoping for?" Beckett asked, cupping his cheek.

"What I told you before when we were still in Ireland, that she'll look like you," Castle said. He wasn't surprised when she laughed and he said, "I can hope."

"We'll see," Beckett said. "Especially since she has your hair already. But you love her," she said, studying his face.

"I do, really deeply already, and it hasn't even been a full day since she was born yet," Castle told her, taking her hand and kissing the palm tenderly. "I love Eliza, and Julia, and you, our little Hamptons family."

Beckett couldn't stop herself from smiling at that; as he'd taken to calling the four of them that before Eliza had even been born; and she leaned up slightly to be able to kiss him. She kept it very gentle and brief before they were parting from one another, but her lips were still aching with his touch against them as she stared into his eyes. " _No, stay love_ ," she told him when he started to move to get off the bed.

"I can't sleep here," Castle told her though he hesitated. "It's too crowded."

"It's not," Beckett said. "And you have the cot right next to the bed, so if you fall over you'll be on that at least."

"Oh geez, thanks," Castle said sarcastically, loving her laugh at that. "Kate?"

"Hmm?" Beckett asked, looking at him.

" _I love and adore you… my love_ ," Castle said, wrapping his arm around her side.

Leaning over to meet him when he came to her for a kiss, Beckett reached up to brush her fingertips against the bottom of his chin, feeling his hand pressing on her back slightly in response. When they parted she ran her fingers over his lower lip, smiling as he was quick to kiss it. "So even now…" she asked with a smile.

"Of course, but I'm not going to act on it," Castle said simply before he brushed his lips against hers. "You should get some rest, after what you went through today." He then suddenly grinned and when his wife asked him what he was thinking about he told her, "I'm remembering how you were cursing in three languages while in labor, I'm surprised you picked up swearing in Irish so quickly."

"You always pick up those words the fastest," Beckett told him though she was smiling. "And it was better than swearing at you wasn't it?"

"Oh, I'll agree with that wholeheartedly," Castle said, nodding his head. When his wife shook her head at his response he leaned over and kissed her once more. But he kept it short, murmuring to her, "Night love."

Beckett kissed him quickly before telling him, " _I love you too_ Rick. _My love_." She wasn't surprised when he took her lips at that and she was quick to respond to him as she slid her fingers through his hair. She had a sense of regret when he pulled away, and she sighed saying, "You tempt me too easily."

"That goes both ways," Castle told her. "But for now, let's get some sleep; we have tomorrow and taking Eliza home." He leaned down and shared a final kiss with Beckett; a very quick press of their lips before he was soon falling asleep. But just before he did, he found he was thinking a little further than the next day now they had Eliza with them and they had just finished their first book. But that was all he could think of before he was losing himself to sleep, getting rest after the day he and his wife had had.

Though Beckett was heavily fatigued from giving birth, she felt almost too tired to nod off. Opening her eyes, she looked at her husband, seeing he was already asleep, and she gently brushed her fingers along his lips. Her thoughts went to their baby, and she had to wonder what their future together would hold for them as they were parents with two daughters and writers with their first book under their belt. But that was as far as she could speculate, and she was finally able to close her eyes and fall asleep.

Though they didn't know that they'd been thinking the same thing as they'd gone to sleep, Castle and Beckett would come to remember their thoughts the next day as they prepared to return home with Eliza. Since neither of them could know what would happen to them and their family, it wasn't something that concerned them since all they wanted was to keep Julia and Eliza safe. But it was what they were looking forward to, going through their marriage being as profoundly in love as they were with each other and raising their daughters together.


	26. Epilogue- Save The Last Dance, The Very Last Dance, For Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter are lyrics from the song Save the Last Dance for Me written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, the version I've taken from is sung by Michael Bublé from his album It's Time.

3 1/2 years later

Standing in front of the tombstone, Beckett looked up at her mother's name, smiling for a moment as she couldn't help but think of her youngest daughter when she saw it. She took a deep breath and said, "They're both doing great Mom," having taken to speaking to her mother as she found it was a comfort. "So are Rick and I…" she smiled again at that. "Dad and I still miss you though, and I don't think we'll ever stop."

"Kate?" Castle said carefully, walking up to her then as she was quiet.

"I'm ready," Beckett said, putting her mother's ring into the middle of her palm and making sure the roses she'd placed in front of the tombstone were secure against it. She went to her husband and said, "I had to tell her the girls are doing alright, so are Dad and I."

"She'll like hearing that," Castle said, putting his arm around his wife as they walked back to the entrance.

"And I mentioned us," Beckett said. She smiled when he kissed her temple and said, "Though I didn't go into detail."

"Probably better you didn't," Castle commented. "Oh, got a text from Mother, she's taken Julia and Eliza to the Children's Museum after all. So Eliza will nap after lunch."

"I hope so," Beckett said, shaking her head. "So, we need to go don't we?" she asked as she looked at her father's watch.

"Yeah, I didn't want to rush you though," Castle said as they reached the taxi against the curb. "Are you ready?"

"Oh, you know I always am," Beckett said, narrowing her eyes playfully at her husband before she got into the back as he held the door open for her. She smiled to herself as he quickly shot off the address to the driver and she leaned back as they started down the street, reaching over to take Castle's hand tightly in hers.

* * *

"It's so great to get to meet you, I've become a big fan of your books," the woman was saying as she handed over the tome.

"Thank you," Beckett said as she was signing her name above the date the woman had already written on the title page; _September 15, 2018_. She watched her go over to her husband and after she'd gone Beckett told him, "She was nice."

"Oh I know, let's see about this one though," Castle whispered to her.

Looking over, Beckett had to fight a smile as it was a young man, but she quickly turned to him as he was speaking to her.

"Hi, big fan of yours," the man said as he handed her the copy of Castle and Beckett's fourth book together. "You're a great writer."

"Thanks, my husband and I appreciate that," Beckett said, tucking something under a piece of paper in between both her and her husband. She signed the book quickly and then watched the man walk away without bothering to get Castle's autograph. She smiled at him as he rolled his eyes; reaching over to squeeze his hand before a woman walked straight to him next and proceeded to flirt a little with him.

Though he was used to it, Castle blatantly flashed his left hand toward the woman as he spoke with her before signing her copy of their book. When she left he tucked something under the paper next to him and said, "This'll be a close one," in a low voice.

"We'll find out right now," Beckett said as the last person in line was allowed in. It was a young woman, but when she went to her she smiled, slightly in relief as it was likely she wouldn't have to watch her flirting with her husband.

With everyone gone from the line, Castle and Beckett reached under the piece of paper they'd had and finally he said, "Twelve," to his wife when he'd finished counting. "Love?"

"Fourteen," Beckett said simply. She couldn't help laugh as Castle pretended to get angry, punching the air with his fist as he got up from his chair and turned away. "So you owe me."

"Yeah, yeah," Castle said in a mock frustrated tone of voice.

"Hey, this guy bothering you?" a voice said in front of the table.

"Guys," Beckett said with a smile as she saw it was their former partners. She went around the table to them, hugging Esposito first before doing the same to Ryan. "How are you?"

"Pretty good, we wrapped up a case yesterday, managed to sneak out here," Esposito said. "And you?"

"Good, the book signing went well luckily," Beckett said.

"What's with all the slips of paper?" Ryan asked, looking at the table.

"Phone numbers," Castle explained. "From fans."

"It's been happening since _End of the Line_ was released," Beckett commented. "So we made a game out of it to not tear our hair out at everyone flirting with us and not getting our subtle hints that we're happily married. Whoever has the least amount of numbers…" she said, looking at her husband.

"Has to buy the other a coffee, I know, I was the one that thought that up," Castle said. "How's the Precinct?" he then asked.

"Same as always," Esposito said with a shrug. "It's like you two were never even there, it's creepy. You both still helping the Hamptons PD?"

"We are," Beckett said. "Listen, are you two doing anything in about a half hour?"

"Well, there is the paperwork," Ryan said.

"Could you meet us at the coffee shop by the loft for a drink?" Beckett asked, looking at her phone. "I just invited Lanie and she said she'd come."

"Why a half hour?" Esposito asked.

"We'll get the girls and head there, Eliza's likely taking a nap now," Castle said.

"Sure, we'll see you there," Ryan said simply with a nod.

"I forgot to ask how Tommy and Jenny are doing," Beckett said quickly before the two could leave.

"They're both doing great, spending the day with her parents," Ryan said, smiling at the mention of his nearly two and a half year old son.

Watching them go, Castle turned to his wife and said, "Ready to see if Eliza's up?"

"I'd be shocked if she was still asleep," Beckett told him before they grabbed their jackets from their chairs and left, a janitor sweeping the small folded pieces of paper off the table.

* * *

"Mommy, Daddy!" Julia said when she saw them step into the loft. She hurried to them, hugging her mother tightly around the waist first before she hugged her father. "How was it? They liked your book right?" she asked, looking up at them.

Smiling as Julia hadn't stopped asking that ever since their first book had been released, Beckett replied, "They did, a lot of people in line."

"Good," the nine and a half year old said, nodding her head.

Running his hand over Julia's hair Castle said, "Get anything at the museum?"

"Yeah, can I show you?" Julia asked him, taking his hand and leading him over to the coffee table where a bag was.

"Hey Dad," Beckett said as he came over to her; having been letting Julia greet them. "How were they?"

"They were both well behaved, so much like Alexis it's very frightening sometimes," Martha said from the kitchen.

"And Eliza?" Beckett asked.

"In your room," Jim said, nodding to the door.

Since Castle was talking to their oldest, Becket went into the bedroom, smiling when she saw her three and a half year old daughter in the middle of the bed. She laid down next to her once she had reached her, marveling again at how much Eliza looked like her at the same age; as her husband had been hoping for. The only thing that made her not an exact double for her was Eliza's hair, a dark brown that matched Castle's hair color; the one thing she'd gotten from him. "Hey sweetie," she said as the toddler blinked her eyes open slowly.

"Mommy, did you sign books?" Eliza asked.

"We did," Beckett said, sitting up at the same time as her. She smoothed down her hair and told her, "You must have had a great day at the museum; you took your nap today."

"She didn't want to, but I laid down with her so she could," Julia said, coming in with Castle. She smiled when Eliza stood up and kissed their mother's cheek as she hugged her around the neck before she said, "She was very tired."

"We got presents," Eliza interjected eagerly.

"Your sister said, but she didn't let me see what you got," Castle said, picking her up. He shared a kiss with her and then said, "How about now?"

"Actually, we should wait," Beckett said before their girls could say anything. "Do you two want to meet your aunt and uncles for a drink?" she asked them.

"Ooh, I want to go," Julia said eagerly, smiling when her sister nodded excitedly in agreement.

"Okay, we'll need to get everything packed before we can go," Beckett said, standing up. "Can you watch her Rick?"

"Sure, she can stay with me while I pack my clothes right?" Castle asked Eliza. When the little girl nodded, he set her on the bed while he grabbed his and Beckett's overnight bag, putting it next to her after his wife and Julia had left. As he folded his pajamas, he smiled as the toddler was humming a song while she was playing with her fingers. He and Beckett had found that their youngest was starting to develop a vivid imagination as she was able to play by herself as she was right then and hold her own attention for a long time. And he and his wife liked to joke that she was going to take after him as a writer, though he found himself wondering if it might not be serious. Closing the bag then, he said, "Ready sweetheart?"

"Yeah," Eliza said, nodding once. When she was in her father's arms, she wrapped her arms about his neck and giggled saying, "Love you Daddy."

"I love you too Eliza," Castle said as he stepped out to the door, seeing that Beckett was coming down with Julia; the latter carrying the girls' overnight bag. "Mother, Jim, are you coming along with us?"

"I'll stay," Martha replied, going over to them then. "But I'll come along next Friday to stay over. So I'll see you two then. Now come here darlings."

"Thank you for taking us to the museum Gram," Julia said, hugging her on one side as her little sister hugged Martha on the other.

"Yeah, thank you Gram," Eliza said quickly, kissing her cheek. "Will you come home soon?"

"I will," Martha assured them both. "I love you Eliza, Julia, it was wonderful to see you again."

"I thought so too," Julia said. "Love you Gram."

"Love you," Eliza said as her sister shared a kiss with their grandmother before she shared one with her.

"Come here you two," Jim said, handing the bag from the museum to his daughter. He hugged his granddaughters at the same time as well, and shared kisses with them both telling them, "I love you Julia, Eliza, and I had a great time with you today you know."

"So did we," Julia said, smiling as her sister nodded in agreement. "And I love you too Grandpapa."

"Me too Grandpapa," Eliza said quickly, kissing his cheek before she hugged him.

"Will you be able to come out at all Dad?" Beckett asked as Jim came over to her.

"I'll try to next weekend too," he replied as he hugged his daughter. "I'll call you."

"Thanks for taking them," Beckett said, looking first at Martha and then her dad. "We'll see you. And I love you Dad."

"I'll add my thanks to hers, and see that with an invitation to come next weekend," Castle said. "The girls want to swim with you one last time before winter gets here."

"We'll try," Jim said as Castle picked up Eliza. "I'll walk out with you to the curb; I'm going to head back home."

"Now what are you going to do?" Julia asked him as they walked into the hall after saying goodbye to Martha.

"I have some dinner plans later with old college friends," Jim said, holding his oldest granddaughter's hand. "What are you going to do tonight?"

"We're heading to the White Narrows," Castle answered, smiling as Julia looked back at him questioningly. "And we'll swim before that."

"After too Daddy?" Eliza asked hopefully, pressing her cheek against his.

"We'll see how your mommy and I feel when we come back from dinner," Castle said as they reached the lobby then. He called a cab for Beckett's dad, and after his wife and their daughters gave Jim one last hug, they watched him leave before the four of them walked down the block to the coffee shop.

* * *

"Auntie Lanie!" Julia cried out, running with her sister through the chairs before they reached where the doctor was.

"Hey you two," Lanie said as she knelt down to take the girls into her arms. "I haven't seen you in a while, how was your trip?"

"Fun!" Eliza said eagerly. "Hi," she said, waving at Ryan and Esposito over Lanie's shoulder.

"Mommy and Daddy are ordering our drinks," Julia said then. "And they said we could come here to wait for them."

"Okay, sit down and tell us about what you got to see this summer," Lanie said, putting Eliza into the booster seat she'd made sure to get before getting tables for them.

Waving at her friend, Beckett said to Castle, "Brad texted me."

"Did he try to get a plea bargain?" he asked.

"No, his lawyers want him to plead not guilty, so they're going to trial," Beckett told him. As they waited in line, she looked at the display of desserts, not really paying attention to what was inside. She still thought it was a coincidence that she and Castle had ended up investigating crimes together and in the Hamptons as Tyson had told her to do. It had started when Eliza had been eight months old; in December; when Chief Brady had come to them for help. They'd only worked that one case with the man before he'd moved to South Carolina. The chief of police that had been elected after him had been an old friend of Castle's he hadn't seen in years. And he had come to them both nearly a year after they had worked with Chief Brady, asking for their assistance in what had been a homicide after a drug deal had gone bad. Luckily the mayor had agreed, and they'd worked a few more cases with Chief Brad Davis. But with the new mayoral election earlier in the year, she and her husband had found themselves with a permanent consultant status in the Hamptons PD, since the new mayor was their friend and neighbor, David Foster.

"Kate," Castle said, touching her arm. When she turned to him he took her hand and led her to the register, ordering for them all before he paid. "So we'll see what happens next book signing," he said once they were walking to the table where their daughters and friends were waiting.

"Hey girlfriend," Lanie said as she hugged Beckett tightly. "How are you?"

"Great, and you?" she asked.

"Same as always," Lanie said simply, not looking at Esposito. "So, how was the signing and who lost because I didn't see who paid."

"You knew about that?" Esposito asked.

"I lost," Castle said hurriedly, not wanting them to fight in front of the girls. "Have they been telling you about out trip through western Europe?"

"They have, how is Alexis doing at Oxford? Or is it too soon to say?" Ryan asked.

"Pretty well, it might help she's friends with Kate's impossibly handsome cousin," Castle said, nodding to his wife.

"He's not my biological cousin," Beckett said, rolling her eyes. As the men were looking at her then for confirmation of that. "And impossibly handsome?"

"'lexis said that," Julia piped up. "I don't think so, but Louis is nice, he was nice," she said seriously to her aunt and uncles.

"He gave me euros money," Eliza giggled when Castle started to leave to get their drinks. "Can I go with you Daddy?" she asked hurriedly. When he held out his hand she got down with Ryan's help and then rushed to her father, grabbing his with her much smaller hand.

"He is so cute with you two," Lanie was saying to Julia. "How is the fifth grade?"

"A lot of fun, I love the books we're going to read," the girl replied with a smile.

"And her own books too," Beckett said as Julia giggled a little. "She's been caught by her teacher already reading during her lessons."

"So she's like you," Lanie said, knowing her friend had done that when she was in grade school too.

"She is, we're working with her to stop that," Beckett said when Castle came back with their drinks. "Any chance you guys can come to the Hamptons in the future?"

"Probably not," Ryan said slowly. When the others looked at him he smiled a little and said, "Jenny wanted me to tell you; though she's not with us at the moment; but we're having another baby."

The others immediately started to congratulate the detective, shaking his hand in Castle's case as Esposito clasped his shoulder with his hand. The girls were asking about their new cousin before Ryan explained that his wife was two months along and they were expecting the baby in April. They then began to talk about Castle and Beckett's next book, Ryan and Esposito supplying more and more crazy plots as she rolled her eyes, making the girls giggle at that. Once they had all finished, they went to the sidewalk outside the coffee shop, saying goodbye to the detectives since they needed to hurry back to the station as they were still on duty.

"You don't have to go back to work?" Beckett asked Lanie as she walked with them back to the loft since they'd left their bags in the lobby with the concierge.

"I have some time to spend with you," Lanie said. "And my nieces," she said, watching the two walking ahead of them. "So how was it?"

"Our anniversary?" Beckett asked with a smile. When Lanie nodded she said, "It was great, what more can I say?"

"You've outlasted his other marriages haven't you?" the doctor commented.

"Not by that much," Beckett said simply. "But yes."

"Okay, then I'm relieved," Lanie said.

"Still mad at us?" Castle asked, turning back to them as he'd been able to hear their conversation.

"Not really, that stopped a long time ago," Lanie replied. "I'll try and come out one weekend, if not before Christmas, then I'll see you guys next time you're in the city?" she asked as they were outside the building.

"We'll call you to let you know," Beckett promised.

"I almost forgot, did you finish the book?" Castle asked the doctor then.

"I did, and it was great, you have a knack for writing the sex scenes," Lanie said, making sure she kept her voice low as the girls were waiting by the door.

"We do, our publisher agrees," Beckett commented simply. She then hugged Lanie and said, "It was great to see you again."

"I know, I missed you girl, but glad you had such a great trip," Lanie said. "I'll call you soon. Come here you two," she then said to Julia and Eliza.

After hugging their aunt goodbye, begging her to see them soon, the girls were ushered inside the building before their parents grabbed their bags. Heading down to parking, they squeezed each other's hands in excitement, more than ready to go home.

* * *

"Alright, I'm all set," Castle said, coming out into the room before he paused, seeing his wife was putting her hair up, dressed in her bikini. He walked over to her as stealthily as he could, and proceeded to kiss the nape of her neck making her shiver in response. "You are too, except for your hair Kate," he said a little huskily to her.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Beckett asked as she turned to him with a smile.

"Down," Castle said. When she gave him a look and let her locks go tumbling over her shoulders he tried to swallow though his throat was very dry saying, "I think you like to do that purposely."

"I might, but I'm enjoying watching you," Beckett told him as she leaned into him. "The girls are waiting."

"Just one," Castle told her. "Only one."

"It better-" Beckett began to say before her husband was kissing her deeply on the lips. She moaned in response, but responded rapidly to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as his slid around her waist. After four years of being married to him, she knew she wasn't likely going to lose the thrill of being kissed by Castle, as he hadn't stopped being as good as he was at it. When they managed to part, she looked over his shoulder as they really had to go get their daughters, when she saw they were in the doorway, watching them. "Okay, I think we're going swimming," she said with a slight laugh.

"Spying on us?" Castle said, turning and seeing them. "Come here," he said, going to the girls. He picked both of them up and said, "I'm throwing you into the pool repeatedly, both of you."

"No," Eliza giggled as Julia kissed their father's cheek.

"First we need to get down to the pool," Beckett told them to get them moving.

"What about Macca? Can he come home now?" Julia asked as they went downstairs.

"Look," Castle said, when they came to the door to the back.

"Macca!" Julia cried as Eliza squealed in their father's arms.

"So how was it?" Rebecca Foster asked as Castle and Beckett reached where she was standing on the beach.

"He lost," Beckett said with a smile. "How's Ruby?"

"Asleep," Rebecca replied. "And Mari's on her own so I need to get back."

"How's David?" Castle then asked.

"Busy with the council, he's trying to get the library initiative pushed through," Rebecca said, smiling when Castle looked pleased at that. "Lunch tomorrow?"

"Of course," Beckett said. "Thanks for taking Macca for us."

"No problem, we'll see you," Rebecca said, waving to the two girls who called a goodbye to her.

"Now we can go swimming," Castle said as Julia stood up, brushing the sand off her knees. He watched as Eliza held on to the neck of their Irish Wolfhound, not letting it get up and said, "Let him go sweetheart, he wants to go to the pool too I'm sure." The dog had been a gift the Christmas before from him and Beckett to Alexis and the girls, since they were ready to get a dog. Julia had been the one to name him that morning, and he was relieved the dog had become very protective of both her and Eliza and Beckett too though that was likely because she took him for short runs on the beach in good weather.

Kissing the side of the dog's head, Eliza let him go and followed her sister back up towards the house, the dog staying at her side. "Can I swim with Macca?" she asked her mother.

"If he wants to get in the water then he will," Beckett said simply. "But you have us to swim with too."

At the pool, Julia jumped right into the middle of the water as soon as her cover up was on a lounge chair, swimming over to the stairs as her sister came in with their mother. "Can she swim with me Mommy?" she asked, giggling as Eliza was splashing the water with her hand.

"I swim later," Eliza replied. "Daddy has to get the monsters."

"I didn't tell her that," Castle said quickly when his wife looked at him.

"There aren't any monsters," Julia was telling her little sister. "I went in the water just now and there weren't any."

"Can I go Mommy?" Eliza asked eagerly.

"I'll come with you," Beckett said, watching Castle diving into the deep end. She carried Eliza into the water and said, "Want to swim to your sister?"

"Come on," Julia said, holding her arms out to her.

Staying close to Eliza once she'd let her go, Beckett watched the toddler try to swim as they'd been teaching her, but not quite able to make it all the way. As Julia picked her up before she could go under the water, she had to thank her oldest again. Ever since Eliza had come home from the hospital, Julia had been a big help to her as she'd wanted to be as involved with her baby sister as she could, which had meant a little of the stress of caring for an infant was taken off her shoulders. She looked over at Castle who was swimming over to them then, and knew the other part of that ease was because of him. Since he'd had experience with Alexis, she'd learned from him and had the added bonus of him not leaving her with most of the work of raising a baby.

"Pretty nice today," Castle said, coming up to them then. He held out his arms quickly when Eliza started to try to swim to him, and scooped her up quickly. "Not bad, I saw when you swam to Julia, you were close," he told her, kissing her temple. "Want to go under all the way?"

"What about monsters?" Eliza asked quickly.

"There aren't, I checked, just for you," Castle said, not surprised his wife was rolling her eyes at that. "Want to go?" At Eliza's nod he said, "You too Julia," and then counted off before they lowered themselves under the water quickly. He heard Macca on the edge of the pool barking and when they resurfaced said, "He never likes when we do that."

"It scares him Daddy," Julia told him before she swam over to where the dog was. "It's okay Macca, we only got wet," she said, petting the dog's reddish coat. She kissed the top of his head, giggling when he clambered to his feet to shake himself of the water she'd dripped on him though it wasn't much. She cried out when she was tickled on her side and turned to her mother. "Mommy," she said, wrapping her arms around her tightly. "Want to race?"

"Yep," Beckett said simply. She led the way to the deep end of the pool and said, "Ready?" At her daughter's nod she told her, "Go!" and they both started to swim to the steps, where Castle was sitting with their youngest.

Eliza was jumping up and down as she watched the two as they swam over to them, crying out as her mother let Julia reach her first. "Did you win?" she asked.

"Yeah, but Mommy let me," Julia said, hugging her little sister. "Now we can jump in."

"Kay," Eliza said, nodding furiously as she followed her out of the pool.

"I thought you might want to win this time around," Beckett said, going over to the side of the pool with Castle.

"I did, but I can't wait until I get bigger and you won't have to let me win," Julia teased her.

"Come on sweetie," Beckett said to Eliza after giving her oldest a look. Once the toddler had jumped inside, she was quick to pick her back up though she was wearing a vest, kissing her on the cheek as she praised her.

"I jumped high," Eliza said then as they watched Julia jump into the water with them. "So high I touched the stars."

"That high? That's not too bad for you little Eliza," Castle said, tickling her neck. "Want to do it again?"

"Yeah," Eliza said eagerly before her mother put her onto the side of the pool.

Watching her jump inside again, Julia swam up to her mother and asked, "I used to do that a lot."

"You still do," Beckett said as her oldest climbed up on her so she could hold her. "I wish I could still do this out of the water."

"It's nice doing that here," Julia insisted. "Did you go see Grandmama today?" she then asked as Eliza was making Castle put her on the side of the pool to jump again.

"I did," Beckett said. "Did you want to see her?"

"No," Julia said, letting go of her to swim around. "But I heard you and Daddy talking about that."

"You're like him, an eavesdropper," Beckett teased her.

"Hey, I am not," Castle called out in mocking protest, making the two laugh as Eliza; in his arms; patted his cheeks.

"He is," Beckett said, sharing a smile with Julia. "Okay, so we should play a little more and then get out." When her oldest groaned she quickly continued, "Because we need to wash up for dinner."

Pouting, Julia was quick to dive underneath the water before she swam over to the deep end. As she was going, she couldn't help think of the song she was currently learning to Samba to. She'd stuck with her Ballroom and Latin dancing, but ballet had started to come in second to those lessons. She was also still taking riding lessons, and had participated in a few competitions; mainly eventing like her mother; but hadn't won anything for that yet. She had won for the dancing competitions she'd been in, and she was determined to win at least one trophy for eventing. It was then the steps of the Samba became a little muddled with the steps of dressage she was also learning, so she shook her head as she resurfaced, turning back to the shallow end where her father was putting Eliza on an inner tube. She then ducked back under the water, knowing her sister was going to be calling to her shortly to join her.

After letting their girls swim on the bright blue tube, Castle and Beckett managed to get them out, promising they'd try to go swimming the next day with the Fosters since they were coming over for lunch. They headed into the house, Macca leading the way before he slipped inside the open door.

While Castle was giving Eliza a bath, Beckett was sitting at the desk in Julia's room while she was taking a shower. She looked around the room as she did so, wondering how things hadn't changed too much there in the past few years. The Beatles, Paul and George posters were still there, but the pictures in between them had changed from constellations to pictures of The Beatles, Paul and George. On the wall where there had been a poster of the albums of The Beatles next to the poster of George, Julia had changed it to pictures she'd taken on their vacations. That made her gaze go to the map that Castle had bought her, a number of pins here and there indicating where they'd gone.

"I'm ready Mommy," Julia said, coming out of the bathroom, dressed for dinner. She smiled when Beckett turned to look at her in a little surprise and she told her, "I wonder where we'll go next."

"I know; me too," Beckett said. "But that probably won't be until Spring Break next year."

"Okay, I'm just glad I got to see Liverpool," Julia said. "And Ireland too."

"So are we," Castle said, coming into the room.

"Don't hug me yet sweetie," Beckett said, quickly stopping Eliza before she could hug her as she was still wet. "When I'm finished getting ready okay?"

"Kay," Eliza said. "Can you read with me Jules?"

"Definitely," Julia said with a smile as she saw it was one of her old Rupert books. "I'll watch her Mommy, Daddy."

"Thank you," Castle said, leaning down to kiss the tops of their heads. "We'll be right out." As he and Beckett walked to their room he said, "Together?"

"No," she told him simply. "Another time, but we need to make our reservation. I'll go first."

"Go ahead, but I'm waiting right here," Castle said as he followed her into the bathroom, leaning against the counter.

"Get out of here you pervert," Beckett said, shaking her head as she pushed him away playfully.

"I'm going to ogle my wife, how does that make me a pervert?" Castle inquired.

"Because I say it does," Beckett said. When he didn't move she finally sighed and gave in saying, "Alright fine, but do not go too far, they're waiting for us."

"Got it," Castle said, taking off his trunks as she pulled off her bikini. He let himself admire her as she went inside, stepping into the shower after her, and as soon as she was in, he was forcing her to press her back against the wall.

"You didn't hear a word I said did you?" Beckett asked, though she was smiling at him.

"Not a thing," Castle said exaggeratedly before he leaned down, kissing her deeply before he pulled her to him underneath the running water that she'd turned on.

Beckett was trying to keep her husband from going too crazy as his hand began to run over her body while they were still kissing. She nearly had to tear herself away when he wouldn't, but she was finally able to get him to stop and focus on getting clean so their daughters wouldn't be left alone for too long. "Sorry," she said as they finished drying themselves off after stepping out into the bathroom.

"I shouldn't have done that much," Castle said, sighing as he knew she was referring to his arousal. "So it's more my fault, but you owe me."

"You keep thinking that," Beckett said simply, wrapping her towel around her before walking to the bedroom.

"I will, because you do," Castle couldn't help tease her a little more. But he dropped it as she merely glanced at him, getting his answer to what he was trying to do in that look. He got dressed as she did; watching her though he knew it wasn't a good idea to keep doing that. "So, I'll be out there with the girls," he told his wife as he grabbed her hand before she could pass him to go to the bathroom.

Beckett kissed him then, keeping it very simple and gentle before she watched him leave the room. Shaking her head to get her mind back to what she needed to do, she went back inside the bathroom, running her fingers through her hair.

Standing in the doorway to Julia's room, Castle smiled as he watched her and Eliza watching something on the older sister's tablet. "What're you two watching?" he said to get their attention.

"Rupert, Daddy!" Eliza said quickly when she looked up and saw him. She rushed over to him after her big sister helped her down, throwing her arms around him. When he picked her up and made her legs swing out, she squealed before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you Daddy," she said with a wide smile as he blew on her cheek.

"Mommy's ready," Julia said as she started to walk over to them.

Turning, Castle saw that his wife was ready, and though he'd seen her when they'd been getting dressed, he wrapped his free arm around her waist and murmured to her, " _You look beautiful love_."

" _Beautiful_ Mommy," Eliza repeated, having a little trouble with the word and stammering slightly since she was only picking up Irish from them speaking it.

"Thank you," Beckett replied, kissing the little girl. "And you look pretty tonight sweetie, both of you actually," she said, holding her hand out to Julia.

Hurrying to her mother, Julia took her hand and squeezed it saying, "Daddy's handsome isn't he?"

"Of course he is."

"Of course I am," Beckett and Castle said at the same time. Grinning when his wife looked at him he said, "Then we both agree."

"Yes, but don't compliment yourself, it's creepy," Beckett teased him. "Macca's been fed?" she asked as they went through the house to the garage.

"He has food Mommy," Eliza told her seriously. "Daddy gave him it."

"Gave it to him," Castle gently corrected.

"Gave it to him… Daddy," Eliza giggled before he was helping her into her car seat.

"Great job," Castle said, sharing a kiss with her as she'd pursed her lips. "And you're set, Miss Julia…" he said as she climbed into the car on the other side with her mother's help. He made sure she put on her seat belt before he squeezed her hand and then got out. "I'm opening the door at the restaurant," he told his wife as she was opening the passenger side door.

Beckett didn't reply to that, only glanced at him across the roof of the car and smiled when she could tell that look had an immediate effect on him before she sat down. As they were driving to the restaurant, she glanced back at Eliza and Julia who were holding hands and she asked, "What are you two doing?" smiling at the toddler.

"Seeing who lets go first, since she can't do the blinking game," Julia replied simply. "I won last time."

"Na-uh," Eliza protested. "We both won."

"Then we both won," Julia giggled. "Maybe I'll win now."

"No I wanna win," Eliza said, her lips pursed though there was laughter in her voice.

"Hey you two; which one of you can clap the fastest to this song?" Castle asked as _Eight Days a Week_ began to play as he put the volume up. He smiled when he heard clapping; along with the clapping in the chorus of the song, and asked his wife, "A tie?"

"A tie," Beckett said, shaking her head as she sat back. By then they'd reached the restaurant and she waited after he pulled up to the valet parking. Luckily they'd been there so many times over the years pretty much everyone at the place knew them, so the attendant waited for Castle to come around to her. "I can open the door myself," she commented teasingly.

"You won't though," he told her, kissing the back of her hand. "I'll get the girls."

"You mean just Eliza," Beckett said as Julia was walking quickly around the car to her.

"Just Eliza, who is ready to go," Castle said as he sat next to her car seat. "Sweetheart, remember, you need to let us get you out."

"I know Daddy," Eliza replied, waiting impatiently for him to get her straps off. "I wanna go with Mommy," she said as he started to pick her up.

"Come here," Beckett said, reaching into the car to pick up the little girl. She kissed Eliza's cheek and made sure Julia was with Castle before they headed inside. She wasn't too surprised when their youngest started to suck her thumb when she saw the people waiting in the lobby for tables, and she carefully pulled her hand away from her mouth, murmuring comfortingly to her. In that, Eliza was a bit like she had been as a very little girl; as her father had told her once the little girl started acting like that; but as she spoke to her, the toddler smiled and waved at the hostess; a woman they knew.

"Ms. Beckett, Mr. Castle, welcome back to the Narrows, your table is ready if you'll follow me," the woman said, smiling at Eliza. She led them to the table at the windows looking out at the water, waiting for Beckett to set her daughter in the high chair already in place, and handed them their menus.

"Julia, look and see what you want first," Castle said since he was sitting with her.

"I know already Daddy," the little girl said simply, not turning her gaze from the window where there were some boats on the water.

"Looks like everyone wanted to try the waters," Castle commented.

"It was a good day for sailing," Beckett replied. "Sweetie, do you want the shrimp?" she said, trying to get their youngest's attention again. When Eliza nodded, without looking from the window, she looked at her husband and smiled before they were giving their drink orders to the waitress. "So tomorrow we'll swim," she said as she and Castle let their girls look outside. "But Julia has homework too."

"I can do it in the morning," the little girl said. She smiled when her parents looked at her and told them. "I wanted to do it then that way my day is free for swimming with Mari."

"Good plan," Castle said, slightly ruffling her hair behind the fabric headband on it. "What about Eliza?"

"What about her?" Beckett asked, taking the cup from the waitress who had returned, having the little girl take a sip of the milk inside as she and Castle ordered for themselves and their daughters. "Eliza you do need to look at your plate to eat you know," she said teasingly.

"I will," Eliza replied. "When it comes here."

"So what were you saying about Eliza?" Castle said.

"Well, while Julia's working on her homework, we could play with Macca a little bit in the yard," Beckett said. "And then you can join us," she said quickly as Julia turned to her, looking like she was about to protest.

"Oh, I thought you would stop," the little girl said, smiling a little. "When I finished."

"We know Macca won't want us to when he sees you," Castle said. "Going to work on your little activity placemat here?" he asked her as she turned to it.

"I don't think so," Julia said, looking at the puzzles. "They're too easy."

"She's right, they are," Castle said. "Look at this crossword puzzle, what color is grass? Not a challenge."

"Can I take some pictures with your phone Daddy?" Julia asked. When he started to open his mouth, she hurriedly said in a rush, "I'll stop taking pictures when the food comes, I promise."

"Let her," Beckett said as he glanced at her. She watched Julia take pictures with the phone, and she ran her hand over the back of Eliza's head, wishing she'd brought her own phone. But until the food arrived she enjoyed helping Julia set up her shots, and once she'd looked at them, she nodded saying, "Very nice, you'll have to send these to your grandpapa."

"I wanna see Grandpapa," Eliza said, though she still wasn't turning her head from the view.

"You will," Castle assured her. "For now though, it's time to eat," he said as their waitress was approaching the table with a tray.

With a little coaxing, Castle and Beckett were finally able to get Eliza's gaze from the sea outside to her food, but neither were too surprised when she kept glancing back to it repeatedly as she ate. Julia was a little better, but she managed to take only a few more pictures as the light changed as the sun headed further to the west. Their meal completed, they got back into the car, heading to the gelato shop as Castle told them he was treating them to it that night; as they hadn't gone there since before their trip to Europe that summer.

Watching her father take the holder with the four cups of gelato, Eliza tugged her mother's hand and asked, "Can we eat now?"

"When we get home," Beckett said as they headed out to the car. "I promise as soon as we get out to the beach you can have your gelato."

"We can have them on the sand?" Julia asked eagerly.

"You can," Castle replied as he was helping Eliza back into her car seat. He tapped the end of her nose to her giggle before checking again on Julia. Driving back to the house, he shared a glance with his wife, both of them amused as the two were talking about their favorite flavors at the shop they'd gone to in Paris for gelato.

"Can we still make that book?" Julia suddenly asked as Castle was pulling into the driveway.

"We will, just wait until things settle down, and we'll start sorting through all our pictures," Beckett promised her, as she and Castle had started making books of photos from their vacations since they'd done that for their first San Francisco visit. She smiled briefly as they'd been back to the city by the Bay once before, when Eliza was a little over a year old, staying for two weeks that time. They couldn't do too much since their youngest was so young, but it had still been fun, and she'd been able to see May and her kids again. "Okay, go down to the sand you two," she said, bringing her attention back to her daughters. "And make sure you don't go to the water," she said slightly sternly, looking them both in the eyes. "Because whoever does that is going to come back up to the house and will have to wait in time out with one of us while the other two have their gelato. Okay?"

"Kay," Eliza said seriously, her already wide brown eyes wider.

Nodding, Julia didn't really find her mother's tone scared her, but knew that she was very serious and she wondered; as she had been as she'd been growing up; if her mother had ever scared the people she talked to when she was a detective. But instead of thinking about that for much longer, she took her little sister's hand, and led the way outside with Macca following them, bounding down the stairs after them.

Well, one thing we're lucky to have," Castle said as he came over to his wife after grabbing a blanket they used for the beach. "Is him," he said, gesturing with his chin outside where the Irish Wolfhound was herding the two girls away from the breaking waves as they pretended to run down the beach.

"I know," Beckett said, smiling as she watched. "I'm debating whether we should let them have this," she commented as they went outside.

"Either way, they're kids and will be hyper, I don't think more sugar will affect them too much," Castle said while he waited for her to take off her heels next to the chairs. He had taken his shoes and socks off in the house, and once his wife had her arm looped through his, he led her down to the sand.

"Macca saved us," Eliza giggled. "The waves came and he made them go."

"Then he's a great dog," Castle said, patting the dog's head as it flopped down on the edge of the blanket between him and Julia.

"He's the best dog," Julia said, leaning down and kissing the top of his head. "Aren't you Macca?" She hugged him as he raised his head at her calling his name and kissed him again before taking her gelato from her mother. "When can we talk to Alexis?"

"I'll text her now, see what she's doing," Castle said as he got his phone from his pocket.

"I wanna tell 'lexis about playing," Eliza said firmly. She giggled when her mother cleaned her lips of her gelato, and then pursed them before Beckett leaned down to kiss her. "Love you Mommy."

"I love you too," Beckett replied, brushing some of her hair off her cheek.

"Okay, so right now Alexis is watching a movie with Diana and Louis plus some other friends," Castle said, reading the responding message from his oldest daughter. "She wants me to text her and she'll go to her room to talk to us."

"When will we call her?" Julia asked.

"Soon," Beckett promised. "Finish your gelato."

Watching the girls as they looked at the water in front of them, Castle glanced at his wife then, and wrapped his arm around her waist; bring her to him as she looked at him. But she didn't try to pull away so he took the chance and leaned down, kissing her firmly on the lips. When she responded to him, he felt a sharp, hot sensation rush through him, not surprised that same feeling hadn't ebbed in any way since they'd first kissed. He slowly pulled away after a moment; as he knew the girls could see them; and he stared into her eyes before he whispered to her, " _I want you my love_."

Shivering as she could hear his desire in that, Beckett whispered as softly as she could into his ear, " _I know, and I want you. Later_." She smiled when she felt him shudder heavily in response and she kissed his cheek before they looked at the girls, not surprised to see that Julia was just turning her head to the ocean, while Eliza was watching them with a wide smile on her face. Their youngest didn't seem to mind them showing affection in front of them, and slowly Julia hadn't either. "Are you two done?" she asked, seeing their cups and spoons on the blanket.

"Yeah, now?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Now," Castle said, and they got up, gathering the trash and the blanket before going into the house. He led the way to the family room where he set up the TV to talk to Alexis on Skype. "There she is," he said when his daughter appeared on the screen.

"Hi Alexis!" Eliza cried out, waving to her sister.

"Hey you two," the young woman said since her sisters were on the coffee table in front of the TV. "How was it in the city today?"

"Fun! We went to play," Eliza said first.

"At the Children's Museum," Julia explained, and she and her sister then rushed to tell their big sister together about their day out.

"Sounds like it was fun," Alexis said with a laugh.

"Yeah, but we want you there too," Eliza said.

"I'll go in the summer, I promise," Alexis told her sisters. "We'll go all over the city if we don't go on another big trip."

"I can't wait," Julia said excitedly, her little sister nodding in agreement with her.

"Mind if I talk to Dad and your mom now?" Alexis asked.

"I think that's a yes," Castle said, smiling as the two got off the coffee table and went to sit on the couch behind it with him and Beckett. "So what do you want to ask us kiddo?" he asked his daughter.

"How was the book signing?" Alexis asked.

"It went well," Beckett answered. "If you want to know, your dad bought us drinks after."

"Not a surprise, you're ahead aren't you Kate?" Alexis said with a laugh.

"For now, we'll have other books; other signings," Beckett said, smiling at her husband.

"Other chances," Castle said, laughing when she shook her head at that. "We had drinks with Lanie and the boys after we got the girls from the loft."

"Lanie said to tell you hi by the way," Beckett said.

"And they were asking how you were doing in Oxford," Castle told her.

"I'm fine Dad," Alexis said, shaking her head. "What about you?"

"He's not there," Eliza said, making the others laugh without her knowing why.

"I know, I'm just asking if he's okay, is he?" Alexis asked her little sister.

"Yeah, he misses you, all of us do," Julia said quickly.

"She's right, but we'll see you at Christmas; at least I hope," Castle said.

"You will," Alexis promised. "I do want to come home and see my family for the holidays."

"Okay. I think we should let you go back to your movie night," Beckett said, putting her hand on her husband's back. "Are they waiting for you?"

"They are, I told them not to but they're taking an intermission for me," Alexis said.

"Sounds like you have some great friends," Castle said, pleased to see his daughter nod in agreement since he couldn't help worry about her. "Have a great Saturday night sweetheart."

"Thanks Dad, I love you, and two, Lizzy, Jules," Alexis said to her sisters.

"Take care Alexis," Beckett said as the two told her they loved her too.

"Thanks Kate, we'll talk Monday night, bye," Alexis said before she hung up.

"Now what do we do Mommy?" Julia asked as Castle was taking switching the input of the TV.

"It's late," Beckett said, looking at the clock in the room. "So you two need to change into pajamas and brush your teeth."

"I can do that with Eliza by myself," Julia said. "Come on, that way Mommy and Daddy can rest."

"I'm wondering why she likes doing that…" Castle couldn't help say as their daughters hurried out of the room, nearly running.

"Slow down on the stairs you two," Beckett had to call out as she could hear their small feet nearly hammering down on the wood there, Macca following them. "She likes the responsibility, and I think it makes her feel like her big sister."

"Oh right, since Alexis would help her when she was younger," Castle said as they went to their office since she had taken him by the hand. "Any reason why we're in here?"

"I wanted you to see the illustrations I was sent," Beckett told him as they sat down on the couch. "I got it but only got a chance to glance through it this morning before we left."

Taking her tablet once she had handed it to him, Castle nodded saying, "Nice, I like how she's drawn Macca… boy I hope Sir McCartney doesn't sue us. Or MPL."

"He doesn't own the nickname," Beckett said, giving him a look.

"I have to admit love, I had more fun writing this book than our last novel," Castle told her.

"Because Julia was writing with us," Beckett said. She looked at the illustrations for the children's book she and Castle had written together with Julia, about their dog solving a robbery. It had been Julia's suggestion to use Macca and she had even come up with what the robbery was going to be about. Working through the book with her, she and Castle had a feeling that their oldest wouldn't be too bad a writer if she wanted to do that as a living too. "What?" she asked as she noticed that her husband was looking at one illustration, his brows furrowed.

"Is it a good idea to have him in a thick tartan plaid," Castle said, pulling a Scottish accent for the last two words.

"Remember we put in the line about him being Irish and Scottish because a Scottish terrier adopted him," Beckett said. "And Julia insisted that we put in a little origin story about him, where-"

"He learned from another Scottish terrier how to solve crimes," Castle said. "That's true, hopefully that'll help."

Hearing the sounds of footsteps, Beckett heard the scrabble of Macca's nails on the wood floor before there was a muffled thud in the hall. "Think he'll ever get that turn?" she asked her husband as he stood up.

"Good question," Castle said with a slight smile as he went out into the hallway. As he was walking towards Julia and the dog, Eliza raced past him, her bare feet slapping on the floor in her speed. "Easy sweetheart," he called to her, knowing she wanted to see her mother. "Is he okay?" he asked Julia when he reached her.

"Yeah," the little girl said, hugging the dog; who was sitting up; around the neck. "I think he went too fast."

"More than likely, but you should know better than to go running," Castle said, checking Macca quickly to make sure he was alright.

"Eliza wanted to see Mommy," Julia said simply. "Me too."

"Alright, then let's go see her," Castle said with a smile as he stood up, taking her hand. When they reached the office he smiled as his wife was there to meet him, their youngest in her arms. "He's fine," he told her. "Just a little too over eager since Eliza wanted to come in to see you."

"Good, now it's time to get this one into bed," Beckett said since it was nearly seven thirty. "We'll read though," she quickly told Eliza as the little girl pouted.

"What book?" Julia asked as they went up the stairs.

"Cater- butterfly!" Eliza cried, holding up her arms.

"I guess _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ ," Castle said as they went into Eliza's room. There he watched as Beckett put the little girl down on the bed before she climbed up, leaning against the headboard. He grabbed the book from the desk before joining them, sitting on the edge facing them.

Sitting on her mother's lap with her stuffed horse in her arms, Eliza soon began to fall asleep, jerking awake a few times until she finally fell asleep just as the caterpillar was becoming a butterfly. But she was awakened when her mother laid her down on the bed and she smiled at Beckett before her father appeared in front of her. "Night Daddy, love you," she said sleepily.

"I love you too Eliza, sweet dreams," Castle said, sharing a kiss with her.

"Love you Lizzy," Julia said, still on the bed. She kissed her sister's cheek as she patted her own cheek, and then climbed off the bed so their mother could tuck her in.

"I love you so much Eliza," Beckett whispered to her, the toddler nearly sleeping by then. She heard her mumble some words, but thought she heard the words Mommy and love, so she knew her youngest had replied to her I love you. "Sweet dreams," she whispered before she went with Castle and Julia to the doorway. As she turned off the lights and he closed the door; their daughter was waiting in the hall for them. "You have a half hour Julia, what do you want to do?" she asked as they were walking away from Eliza's room.

"Didn't we record the polo game?" Julia asked, smiling as her father's face brightened in remembrance.

"Then we should go watch it," Beckett said, noticing the expression on Castle's face as well.

Following the two down the stairs, Castle couldn't help but think about how he'd become a polo player since he and Beckett had returned from their honeymoon. David Foster had taken him under his wing and had taught him how to play, and he'd taken to it swiftly. He was on a team with David and two other friends of theirs, and they were semi-professional, but more in the fact they were the local team and would compete during the fall and spring at the polo grounds. And he also played on a coed league with Beckett as he'd taught her to play in turn and they were on a team with the Fosters. "Should be a great match," he said as he came back to himself while he was setting the recording to play.

"Who do you think won?" Julia asked as she was sitting on the couch behind him; Beckett in the kitchen getting some water for herself.

"I would say England, but Brazil has some amazing riders," Castle said.

"When's your next game?" Beckett asked as she came in.

"The twenty-ninth, the last Saturday this month," Castle replied as he took the mug. "Will you be cheering me on love?"

"I always do," Beckett said with a smile, since she made sure she was able to go to his games. She sat down next to Julia on the couch before he hurried to join them as the game was beginning. As he started telling the players what to do on the screen, she looked over at their daughter and saw she was hiding her laughter with her hand covering her mouth. "Is this why you asked to watch this?"

"It's funny," Julia whispered, glancing at Castle. "But I do like the game."

Beckett laughed softly herself at that and then turned her attention back to the TV, leaning against Castle's arm as he was leaning forward, watching England taking the ball down to their side. She was amused through the rest of the half hour they watched the game, as her husband didn't stop talking or cheering at a goal. Finally she had to stop the recording as she noticed it was nearing eight, and she said, "Sorry, she needs to get some sleep," as he looked at her, about to protest.

"Oh, sorry, got lost in the game," Castle said, remembering. "We'll watch it sometime tomorrow with Eliza," he said as they got up and went to the stairs. When they got to Julia's room, Macca stood up from in front of Eliza's door, and he patted the dog's back saying, "Good boy."

" _Goodnight_ Daddy," Julia said, turning to him since they were at her bed. She squealed when he picked her up and said, "I'm too big to stand on the bed."  
"I don't think so," Castle said before he hugged her tightly. "I love you sweetheart, so much."

"I love you too Daddy," Julia said before she shared a kiss with him. When her mother came to her she said, "Today was a lot of fun."

"It was," Beckett agreed, hugging her. "And tomorrow should be too, but you need to get rest for it okay?"

"I know," Julia said with a wide smile. She shared a kiss with her and said, " _Goodnight_ Mommy, I love you."

"I love you Julia, like your daddy said, very much," Beckett said. She waited for the little girl to get under the covers and once she was sure she was tucked in, kissed her forehead murmuring, "Sweet dreams."

Waving to her parents, Julia smiled as they closed the lights and then left, not waiting for her to fall asleep like they used to since it took her longer than when she'd been little. She didn't mind that, and she felt Macca turning around at the end of the bed, three times, before he plopped down. "Night Macca," she whispered to him, checking to make sure the door was open enough for him to get in and out before she closed her eyes, holding her Stitch doll against her with one arm.

"Want some wine?" Castle was asking his wife as they walked hand in hand to the top of the stairs.

"That would be nice," Beckett said before they went down to the kitchen. She watched him pour out two glasses of Compostela wine before she took her glass and that time led the way outside. She sat down once she reached the two white chairs, watching her husband sit next to her. "So do you think we're set?" she asked him after they'd spent a few minutes watching the waves break in front of them.

"I do," Castle said, knowing what she was talking about instantly. "And I think it'll work out. Think of it. A case where Moor and Green are undercover as husband and wife when they're easing off their fears of commitment with each other, and meeting the ex detective they just worked with and fought over in our last book?"

"Who is this ex going to have been in real life?" Beckett asked, smiling since she had readily gone along with the plot since they'd thought of it together.

"An amalgamation of some of my exes," Castle said. "But she'll disappear at the end of the book; never to be seen again of course."

"Of course, and Moor and Green?" Beckett asked, studying him.

"Oh, stronger than ever," Castle said, taking her hand and entwining their fingers. "And it'll culminate in a very intense, detailed sex scene."

"As they have since the third book," Beckett said in amusement. She drank the last of her wine; since he hadn't poured them much; and then squeezed his thigh after letting go of his hand before she stood. "Maybe we need some help thinking what they should do."

"No," Castle said, getting up immediately. "What we need is to give each other what we want."

"You remembered that huh?" Beckett said, not looking at him as she walked back up to the house.

"Remember, it wasn't that long ago Kate," Castle said, putting his hand under her elbow before he picked up the pace, making her do the same. "And I know you were serious, so don't try to pass it off as me being the only one aroused," he told her. When they were inside and he had the door locked, he was going to push her back against it to kiss her when she ducked under his arm and then walked to the stairs. His breath caught for a moment as she turned back to him with a smile that had his heart thudding in his chest. ' _Four years and she still does that to me_ ,' he couldn't help think to himself as he rushed up after her. And he knew that glance was going to have a lot of power in years to come as its affect was consistently intoxicating; the idea of it making him lengthen his stride so they were going into their bedroom at the same time, the door closing and locking behind them.

As soon as she was in his arms, Beckett initiated the first kiss, holding on to Castle as tightly as she could as his hands were pressing on the small of her back, holding her flush against his body. When she slipped her tongue into his mouth, there was little surprise when he was fighting back against her, and she drew him back inside of her mouth, running her fingers through his hair until they were parting to breathe. She bit her lower lip as they stared into each other's eyes, and she brushed her lips against his. He then bent his head down to her neck, brushing kisses over her skin, making her shiver before he was drifting to her shoulder, stopping at the strap of her sundress. She watched him slide it out of the way until he could get to the end and she made him raise his head. "Maybe we should move to the bed," she told him as he looked at her questioningly.

"Right," Castle said, taking her over to it by pressing on the small of her back. Before she could get onto the bed though, he had her stop and he carefully made her turn around, pulling down the zipper on her dress saying, "So you were serious?"

"About needing you?" Beckett asked, smiling as she knew he was teasing her. "I think so," she told him as he made her turn around, watching as he helped her sundress down off her shoulders and to the floor. When she turned she sucked in a deep breath of air when he remained kneeling in front of her, and proceeded to kiss the mound that was the apex of her legs through her panties, which immediately made her start to shiver in pleasure at the sensation. "Come here," she said, pulling him up as she started to unbutton his shirt even before he was fully standing. She smiled as he leaned over to kiss her cheeks a few times, knowing he wanted to goad her into another kiss, but she didn't let him until his shirt was with her dress. Running her hands down his chest, she then stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Taking his wife in his arms, Castle nearly crushed her lips with his own, unable to help it as he'd been watching her. There was something about her lips that made him want to kiss her, and hard, as they were both doing to each other by then. When they had to part for air, he leaned down, brushing his lips over her earlobe before he went lower to her neck. He murmured her name against her skin as she shook in his embrace, and he proceeded to gently suck right above her pulse, feeling her jerking against him before she pulled away. "You didn't like that?" he asked, though not really feeling that in her body language.

"You're wearing way too much still," Beckett said. She was a little frustrated in having to let him go; as she'd been enjoying her breasts brushing against his bare chest; but she helped him with his trousers, and once those were discarded she smiled at him and avoided his reach as he tried to grab her, knowing he wanted to get her naked. Tossing her hair over her shoulders, she lay down in the middle of the bed, and watched him start to climb on the bed before she reached out with her right foot and stopped him from moving. "Take those off, I decided I want to see you before you see anything else of me," she said, teasing him.

"And what if I wanted to see you first?" Castle asked her simply.

"Then we're at an impasse," Beckett said, smiling at that. "And we won't really get much done."

"I'm only doing this because I need you," Castle said as he pulled off his boxers and then joined her on the bed as she had moved her leg out of the way.

"Oh, you weren't kidding," Beckett said, studying his erection. She smiled saying, "You were serious too."

"I still am, can I?" Castle said, trying not to sound impatient but failing to.

"Go ahead," Beckett told him simply, watching him immediately slide her panties off of her legs, being careful but still a little quick doing that. When he came back to her after throwing them on their pile of clothes, she wasn't too surprised when he didn't let her bring him down to her for a kiss, instead pausing to tuck a pillow below her hips. She had to wonder what he had in mind, and she had to love how yet again, the dominance slightly shifted between them. It had done that often when they were intimate, and she loved experiencing it as it made things a lot more interesting. Her attention was taken then by her husband, his fingers lightly brushing against the nipple of her right breast. Trembling immediately in reaction to that, she said, "How are you going to take me?"

Shuddering as his wife's voice was even lower in tone than it normally was, Castle moved to kiss her, whispering, "Let me surprise you."

"Hmm, you do that constantly," Beckett said. "I just want you to fuck me now Rick and make me come." She smiled as he paused, but when he looked up at her, her breath caught a little in her throat, his blue eyes darkened with his arousal making her heartbeat race. She had no idea in their years together how many times he'd looked at her in almost the same way, and she still had the same reaction. She'd made an attempt once to explain it, but hadn't gotten much further than the fact that that look meant he wanted her; desperately; before she gave up and decided it didn't need to be explained. She was brought back to the present as Castle was lowering his head, taking her breast with his mouth, beginning to suckle at her nipple as she moaned deeply, her hands grasping the back of his head.

Feeling the way Beckett was writhing in response to him at her breasts; Castle wasn't sure how he was able to keep himself there for as long as he did. The feel of her body rubbing against him was a huge temptation, but finally he felt he'd spent more than enough time at her chest to make sure that they were both aroused, and he slowly pulled back. "I love you," he said as he slid into her, very carefully but not without some force.

Gasping out, Beckett held onto his shoulders and told him, "I love you too." She expected him to start to move; as she had to guess that he was aching as he finally filled her; but he grabbed her right leg, and placed the ankle on his shoulder. As soon as she knew what he was doing, she'd wrapped her left leg around his waist, not too surprised he'd chosen that one as they hadn't done it for a while, though it was a favorite position of theirs. She moaned softly as he thrust once inside of her, a little carefully, almost as if he was testing her. She tried to make her hips respond, though she couldn't do so that much, and was relieved when he didn't waste any more time until he was moving steadily inside of her. Reaching up with her left hand, she managed to clasp the back of his neck as she tried to hurry and match his rhythm. With her other hand pressing on the mattress underneath her, she was able to attain a little bit of leverage, and she was soon moving as hard as she could, hearing their hips slapping together satisfyingly as that was accompanied by a rush of pleasure that rose from where they were coupled to the rest of her body.

Watching her as he was by then fucking her, Castle was a little enthralled by the look on her face, her head tilting back and forth before she suddenly took her hand from his neck and put it under her head. Seeing the way her breasts moved in response to that, he found his mouth watering heavily, and it made everything within him throb. The friction between their bodies was intense with the way he was moving and that fed the throbbing, so much so that he didn't understand his endurance. He hadn't worked at it, or perfected it; it just seemed to come to him most of the time with Beckett. He was taken from his thoughts when his wife was suddenly pushing herself up on her elbows, and taking his lips in a deep kiss that was sensuous as well.

As she'd been looking up at him then, Beckett couldn't lie there anymore, luckily she could push herself up in that position, and she also found being propped up like that meant she had even more leverage, which she used to thrust as hard as she could against him. The dull smack between his hips and hers was a fresh jolt in her, and the fact that it was so close to where they were taking each other roughly made her breathe out a little harder, trying to hold on to herself. She wasn't sure if Castle was aware of what she was going through, but suddenly he pulled away and he was pulling out of her too. "Rick-" she started to say.

"Shh," Castle said gently before he quickly kissed her. He then went down between her legs, and proceeded to gently kiss and then run his tongue over her clit. At her cry he was careful, knowing she had been already close to the edge. He wanted her to have a distraction, but knew he was playing with fire making it that.

"Stop, stop," Beckett said, her breathing nearly panting as he instantly did as she asked. When he came back up to her she sat up, making him get on his knees which was exactly what she wanted him to do. She cupped his face in her hands as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed him very tenderly. She knew he was a little confused with that, but that was part of her plan as well. She caressed his face and then lowered herself, going down to his length, nearly curved up against his stomach.

Hissing loudly in the room; making it sound as if a shot had gone off; Castle tangled his fingers through his wife's hair as she slowly ran her mouth up and down his erection. He had been somewhat expecting her to do that, but it was still a shock in the sensation as it raced through his form, making him shudder once before he quickly got that under control. He watched Beckett closely, even though there was a risk in that, and finally he couldn't take it anymore as she was pushing him too far almost as she brought her hand up to help herself out. He laid her back down, and got her legs on him as they'd been before, slamming into her body a little harder than he'd meant to. But with her cry of joy in response, he knew he'd given her what she wanted, and he hurriedly started to thrust again, eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head as he felt them together again.

Holding onto Castle's arms as tightly as she could, Beckett was a little slow that time around to match his pace that he quickly set. But she finally got to him, and as they moved together she knew they weren't going to be able to stop. Her skin felt hot, though the room was a little cool from the night air, and her heart was thudding in her chest, trying to keep up with her exertions. She wasn't too surprised when she realized she was slightly sweating, with how fast she and her husband were moving she would have been shocked if she wasn't. But finally, the one thing that drew her attention was the way her sex felt like it was tightly wound up, so much so she knew she was going to snap, making her tilt her head back. " _Rick_ …" she whispered, preparing herself for her end.

The second he heard that, Castle froze, even though his entire body was rigid with the effort. But he was able to do it, and seeing his wife's face he saw that she was a little taken aback by his move; or lack thereof. He watched her for a moment, seeing her slightly calming down, but he moved again. He only could do that a few times, rapid, rough thrusts that had the bed protesting under them, before he stopped again. He could see something a little frantic in Beckett's eyes as she clutched at his arms even tighter, and after he felt he'd waited long enough, he thrust once more.

Beckett closed her eyes tightly, expecting him to stop again, but when it never came, her orgasm crept up on her, taking her completely unawares as she cried out her husband's name once before trying to hold on to herself as her hips were moving wildly, her nails scratching his arms. Her ecstasy was almost too much; drawing it out had made it even stronger, and the resulting conflagration she knew was likely as close as she would get to actually being on fire without injury, it was too hot. But just when she thought she was going to lose the fight with herself, she felt Castle's thrusts against her doubling in speed nearly, and she heard her name echoing against the walls, hearing his climax as well as feeling it. She was able to use that to keep from losing it totally, and eventually they began to slow down; though ultimately her husband thrust against her twice, a little hard before he slumped down on her, allowing her to wrap her right leg around his waist as her arms went about his neck. "I love you Rick; I just said that," she whispered when she felt a little stronger. "But it needed to be said again, you felt amazing."

"You too," Castle mumbled, a little slower to recover. But when he felt her laugh softly he moved, raising his head as he looked down at her. "I love you too Kate," he told her before leaning down to take her lips with his own. He groaned a bit as she was quick to respond to him, and taking advantage of that he slipped his tongue into her mouth, stroking hers with it until they had to breathe. He moved away from her then, being careful doing that, and he lay next to her as he slid one arm under her neck and the other reached over, cupping over her right breast. When she turned to him slightly he kissed her again, but that one was a little deeper than the one that preceded it. Finally he pulled away and said, "I don't really find myself that tired."

"Neither do I," Beckett agreed, smiling as he was slightly fondling her mound under his hand. "You like to play with those a lot."

"I don't hear any kind of protest," Castle commented. "And you could stop me without any trouble if you really wanted to. So I think you enjoy it." He ended speaking on a grunt as she was slightly wriggling her ass against him, and against his member as it was pressed to her. He held her a little tighter as she didn't stop, and finally he had to make her.

"Not fair," Beckett said in mock protest as he let go of her. "What do you want to do?" she asked though she wasn't looking up at his face. She was a little startled to see that he was nearly fully erect, and guessed her teasing had done a lot for him. When she looked up at him and saw the knowing smile on his face she didn't feel embarrassed at all, merely telling him, "That's why we're as good together as we are."

"We are," Castle agreed whole heartedly as she got on her knees and wrapped her arms around him. He held her closely but kept enough space between them to reach between her legs. "Oh, we are good together," he said, feeling her clit was still swollen. He rubbed at it a little before she started to moan, and he then went to her ear, whispering to her huskily before she shook in response to his request.

"Maybe like this better…" Beckett began before trailing off. With that she moved to straddle him, but once he was back inside of her again, she wrapped her legs around him as he was bending his knees. "We won't move fast," she reminded him, as it was a position they had in their book and had done before.

"No, but we'll be close," Castle said before they started to move towards each other at nearly the same time. He groaned as his wife moaned and he held her tightly to him while they rocked against one another, the position only allowing them that motion. It was less intense than the previous one, but as he'd said, they were close, so it felt much more intimate as he had more of her body in his arms than he did if she was lying down on the bed. Taking advantage of that fact he leaned up and started to brush his lips along her jaw, feeling her slight moan of pleasure at that and he moved to her neck, sucking a little at her pulse before she pushed him away carefully. "Don't… tell me you don't… like that," he said, having to pause as they were both trying to go a little faster. He wanted to feel her more, as the way she was constricting around his length was almost making his head spin dizzily.

Beckett didn't reply to what he said, instead kissing him a little frantically, feeling him quick to respond to her as she moaned slightly into his mouth. Their tongues met soon after that, rubbing each other to feel the other before she had to break it off, nearly panting for air as it seemed to keep going on and on. She cupped his face and watching him, the look in his eyes; she leaned back and took his hands into hers. As he cupped her breasts, she shivered against his touch, and bit her lower lip as he proceeded to caress them, making her tighten her grip on his arms that she had held on to. "Rick," she breathed, watching him starting to lean down.

Though it was a little difficult, he was able to take both mounds with his mouth, and he was quick to suck her skin, not just her nipples but wherever he could reach, hearing her short cries in response that let him know what he was doing correctly. When Castle pulled away as he couldn't keep his neck bent the way it was for that long he moved up to her lips, kissing her tenderly, feeling her respond to that ardently. He kept that going, even as they needed to part to breathe before they were kissing again. When they stopped though, he went to her neck and nibbled at her ear lobe, murmuring to her when he could before he felt they were rocking together faster.

As time went on, since it took a while to work the two up, Castle and Beckett remained in the same position, enjoying the difference from the previous one. They kissed and caressed one another, able to speak while they were making love since they were going so slowly, and it was almost a shock when they eventually found their bodies were shaking in their climaxes that were at nearly the same time. They seemed to last for some time as well, and it was another shock to their systems when all of a sudden they stopped moving.

The room was quiet until Beckett was the first to move, getting up and gathering the pile of clothes to put away before she dressed in her pajamas. She wasn't too surprised when her husband didn't move except to lay back on the bed, and she smiled as she walked up to it, tossing his pajamas on him. "You know they'll likely come in tomorrow morning," she told him as he groaned.

"I know," Castle sighed before he got up. He threw on his pajama pants and shirt before he lay down with his wife. "Night love."

"Night Rick," Beckett said with a smile as she pressed her cheek to his shoulder. She heard him soon falling asleep, but found herself not as tired as he was apparently. She slipped away from him then and left the room, leaving the door open as she went to the other side of the second floor. Going to Eliza's room first, she saw her youngest was asleep still, her stuffed horse nearly falling off the bed. Fixing it, she leaned down and kissed the toddler's forehead, smiling as Eliza hummed a little before turning onto her side.

Julia was asleep still as well, so Beckett leaned over and kissed her temple since she was on her side, fixing her sheet before she patted Macca's head as he looked at her and then left. She went downstairs, and straight out into the backyard, going all the way down to the breaking waves, letting them wash over her bare feet. At first, she spent her time admiring the view, watching the waves in front of her idly. But then her mind went to her husband and more specifically to their time together that night. A slight smile on her face, she thought again of the fact that she and Castle had been married for four years. ' _Plus two months in two more days_ ,' she thought to herself. Inevitably that made her remind herself that she had known him for nearly ten years, and went back to when she'd first met him.

When she thought of that, Beckett always was amazed that they'd gotten from that first meeting to where they were at that moment; married with two children. But as she felt arms wrap around her from behind; a kiss pressed to her neck; she remembered the reason why that was. "Hey love," she told him, glancing at him slightly over her shoulder.

"Okay?" Castle asked, holding her closer to him as she shivered as a cooler breeze blew.

"Yeah, I just checked on the girls," Becket told him. "You did too before you came out here didn't you?"

"Of course," Castle told her simply with a wide smile on his face though she couldn't see it. "They're fine."

"It wasn't that long since I checked them," Beckett replied with a little laugh though she didn't mind the update.

"Still, you want to know; it's what makes you a great mother," Castle said. "Well, that and many other reasons."  
"Thank you," Beckett said before she turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know what I was thinking about just now before you came up to me?"

"No idea," Castle said, rubbing his hands up and down her back.

"How we've gone from me taking you in for questioning about two murders; to this," Beckett told him, holding up her left hand as her diamonds in her engagement ring and the silver of her wedding band shone slightly in the moonlight.

"That's a long road love," Castle said. "A lot of turns… some twists, but in the end things always went back to one thing."

"Us?" Beckett suggested. When he nodded she smiled and took his kiss, feeling the same thrill at the first touch of his lips. "I don't think we would have Eliza if that didn't keep happening."

"I know, that would be pretty horrible," Castle commented with a nod. He then studied his wife closely and asked her, "Any regrets?"

Knowing that had nothing to do with their family or their love, Beckett shook her head telling him, "They're more important than my career ever was. And I have a new one now; an unexpected one, but a career nonetheless."

"I just worry sometimes that you push yourself with writing," Castle told her honestly. "But you are good, and you seem to enjoy it quite a bit."

"I do, it's been interesting seeing how your mind works going through a book," Beckett said in amusement. "But I'm set with this Rick, writing with you and the occasional case with Chief Davis."

"Yeah, we have a pretty nice set up," Castle said, nodding in agreement. "Should we go up?" he said as he realized his wife's arms; not covered by her NYPD t-shirt; were cold to the touch.

"Probably, but just a little longer," Beckett said, turning back to the waves.

"This place has seen a lot," Castle murmured to her as he held her around her waist again. "Julia started accepting me more here, you two healed after Queens, and then we celebrated Christmas; really celebrated it; for the first time here. We conceived Eliza here, got married here and now this is home."

"Hmm, it was home for a while I think," Beckett said with a smile at his recounting. "But more a second home, now the loft feels like that." When she felt her husband's nod in agreement at that she asked him, "Do you mind that?"

"Not too much, though I do miss Alexis…" Castle told her.

"It's not for that long," Beckett said, reaching behind her and cupping his cheek. "And she'll come back, she did before."

"True," Castle said before he kissed the side of her head.

"Mommy, Daddy?" a soft voice said then, startling the two of them. "I heard you go outside," Julia said.

"Sweetie, I almost thought it was your sister," Beckett said, going to her.

"I almost thought you'd have Eliza with you," Castle said as he followed his wife up to the grass where Julia was standing. "You okay? You didn't have a nightmare did you?"

"No, I just heard you leaving my room," Julia said simply, leaning against her mother as she hugged her.

"I wasn't running," Castle said as Beckett glanced at him.

"I know. But you should get back to bed," she said to their oldest. "Come on, we'll take you back."

"Are you okay Mommy?" Julia asked, looking up at her as they walked up to the house.

"Oh, I'm fine," Beckett assured her. "I wasn't tired yet and decided to come down to the beach for a little."

"Mommy?" Eliza said at the top of the stairs as her parents and sister came to the bottom of them.

"Oh boy, you too?" Castle said. "Love I swear, I didn't set out to wake them up."

Beckett just smiled at him, squeezing his arm before she headed up the stairs, picking the toddler up before she led the other two into Eliza's room. "You need to sleep sweetie," she told her.

"Kay, I want to go to the beach too," the little girl told her mother as she was laid down on her bed.

"Tomorrow we'll go down there and look for shells before dinner," Beckett promised her, tucking her in. She kissed her forehead, stepping back to let Castle and Julia kiss her goodnight too.

Standing in the doorway with her parents, Julia was watching her little sister fall asleep, not moving until her dad led her away from the doorway. "I'm excited about tomorrow," she confessed to them as they went into her room.

"I'm not surprised," Castle said, ruffling her hair. "But your mom's right, you need to get some sleep."

"I know," Julia sighed before she got back up on her bed. She took her sheet as her mother pulled it up to her and then shared a kiss with her. "Night Mommy, Daddy."

"Night sweetheart," Castle told her, kissing her next.

"Goodnight Julia, sweet dreams," Beckett said before she took Castle's hand. They left their older daughter to sleep and she led him back to their room before she stopped just past the doorway inside.

"We don't need to sleep?" Castle asked her with a smile as she wrapped her arms around him.

"We do, but we don't need to go right this second," Beckett said. She then leaned her forehead against his before she murmured, " _I'll love you, always_ Rick."

" _I love you too my love, always_ Kate," Castle replied, taking her lips then in a gentle kiss.

They spent a little more time together there, kissing and embracing tightly before they went to bed. Pressed close to one another they soon fell asleep, their exertions that night making them satisfyingly tired. But just before they nodded off, they both were thinking of their conversation on the beach before Julia had joined them. Of their relationship and how far it had come up to that point. While they didn't mind thinking on their past, they couldn't help wonder about the future. Though they couldn't know of course what it would bring they were sure they would need one constant and that was each other and everything they had because they were together; their love and their daughters, their family especially; always.


End file.
